MONTREAL (AP) — Canadian regulators have approved Gulfstream G700 and G800 business jets in a move that comes weeks, after new tariff threats from U.S. President Donald Trump over the planes’ status in Canada.
A Transport Canada database shows that it certified the American company’s latest private planes on Monday, roughly a week after green-lighting two older Gulfstream models.
Marie-Justine Torres, a spokeswoman for Canada’s transport minister, confirmed on Tuesday that the certification was granted by Transport Canada.
Trump threatened last month to decertify and place tariffs on all Canadian-built planes unless the government approved Gulfstream business jets.
The go-ahead from Transport Canada came despite deicing concerns flagged by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration, which granted the G700 and G800 conditional certification in 2024.
The FAA said that Gulfstream, owned by General Dynamics, has until the end of this year to prove that the two plane types function “properly ... where ice may form in the fuel system.”
Late last month, Trump singled out Bombardier Inc. in a threat to ground Canadian-made aircraft and slap them with a 50% tariff, marking the latest escalation of trade tensions between Canada and the United States.
Trump said that he was retaliating against Canada for refusing to certify jets from Savannah, Georgia-based Gulfstream Aerospace.
Trump said that the U.S., in return, would decertify all Canadian aircraft, including planes from its largest aircraft maker, Bombardier.
“If, for any reason, this situation is not immediately corrected, I am going to charge Canada a 50% Tariff on any and all Aircraft sold into the United States of America,” Trump said in his post.
Bombardier and Gulfstream are head-to-head rivals, with the Canadian company's Global series battling for market share against Gulfstream’s latest models.
John Gradek, who teaches aviation management at McGill University, said that certification is about safety and it would be unprecedented to decertify for trade reasons.
President Donald Trump arrives for an event to proclaim "Angel Family Day" in the East Room of the White House, Monday, Feb. 23, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
WASHINGTON (AP) — Democrats are betting that Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger’s affordability-focused message, which helped her flip a Republican-held office last November, will resonate with the country when she delivers their party’s response to President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address on Tuesday night.
The rebuttal gives Democrats a prime opportunity to make their case against Trump and his policies ahead of the midterm elections. Spanberger’s double-digit victory in Virginia last November was viewed by party leaders as validation of a disciplined message centered on lowering costs — one they now want to elevate in campaigns nationwide.
“Virginians and Americans across the country are contending with rising costs, chaos in their communities, and a real fear of what each day might bring,” Spanberger said in a statement. "I look forward to laying out what these Americans expect and deserve — leaders who are working hard to deliver for them.”
Spanberger will deliver the speech from Colonial Williamsburg, a living history museum with restored 18th-century buildings, drawing on the site’s role at the heart of Virginia’s early opposition to British rule and connecting that legacy to the current political moment, according to her team.
She will have will have far less time than the Republican president to deliver her rebuttal. Trump’s speech before Congress last year stretched to an hour and 40 minutes, while Michigan Sen. Elissa Slotkin’s Democratic response lasted just over 10 minutes. Spanberger’s speech will be the fifth consecutive response to a president’s address to Congress delivered by a female senator or governor.
Trump on Monday told reporters that his State of the Union is “going to be a long speech, because we have so much to talk about.”
As viewership tends to drop the later the speech runs, the response has become one of the more perilous assignments in politics. Now–Secretary of State Marco Rubio was widely mocked for reaching for a water bottle during the GOP response in 2013. Other rebuttals have quickly faded from memory.
Even with the time disadvantage, Democrats argue the political winds are shifting in their favor. Spanberger’s win in Virginia was followed by other high-profile Democratic victories, including a special election earlier this month in Texas, where a Democrat flipped a reliably Republican state Senate district that Trump carried by 17 percentage points in 2024.
Democratic Sen. Alex Padilla of California will deliver the party’s Spanish language response. Padilla, who in June was forcefully removed from Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s news conference in Los Angeles as he tried to speak up about immigration raids, said in a statement that there is a better path than the one Trump has offered: “one that lowers costs, safeguards our democracy, and reins in rogue federal agencies.”
Some Democrats are choosing to make their point by skipping Trump’s address. Counterprogramming events are planned, including a “State of the Swamp” featuring Democratic lawmakers alongside state and local leaders and celebrities.
FILE - Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger delivers her State of the Commonwealth address before a joint session of the Virignia General Assembly at the Capitol, Jan. 19, 2026, in Richmond, Va. (AP Photo/Steve Helber, File)
