Canada-based aircraft manufacturer Bombardier said it is hiring 500 new workers in the United States, even as US President Donald Trump threatens to place restrictions on the company, claiming it lacks a substantial footprint in the country. “We are actively recruiting for 500 open positions in America,” the company said in a statement provided to Al Jazeera on Wednesday. “They comprise net new positions, as well as planned retirement replacements and backfill for usual turnover in the 3500+ employment base.” The jobs will include positions at a new service centre in Fort Wayne, Indiana, which is set to open in mid-November, Bombardier said. On Monday, Trump criticised the Canadian company, threatening to block sales of its products in the US. “If they want our Market, they must build here, and stop treating America like a ‘piggybank,’” he wrote on his social media platform Truth Social. A White House official said the Trump administration is preparing options and actions on Bombardier, the Reuters news agency reported on Wednesday. In a statement to Al Jazeera on Tuesday, Bombardier said it already employs 3,500 people in the US, and pointed out that it builds its products in the country, including wings made in the state of Texas and flight control components made in California.
Apart from the upcoming Fort Wayne service centre, it has existing service centres in five other states, and spends $2.5bn on suppliers each year, the company said. Lawmakers from Trump’s own Republican party have weighed in to defend Bombardier. Kansas Senators Jerry Moran and Roger Marshall, representing a state where Bombardier has its US headquarters, pushed back against Trump’s criticism of the company. On Tuesday, Marshall wrote on X that he had told the Trump administration about his concerns that jobs in his state could be affected. “I will continue working to see that Bombardier’s manufacturing operations not only remain in Kansas but continue to grow and create American jobs,” Moran wrote on X on Monday.
Trump’s remarks come amid escalating trade tensions between the US and Canada. Early Tuesday, Canada’s retaliatory tariffs took effect, affecting hundreds of US-made products worth $20bn after the White House introduced 50 percent tariffs on Canadian goods on August 22.
