2026-01-30 20:24:00
The Canadian dollar is down against the US dollar but it’s actually outperforming every currency aside from the dollar. That’s a better read on how the loonie has reacted to the latest Trump tariff threats than USD/CAD alone, which is up 105 pips to 1.3594.
Even with that pair, if you zoom out over a couple weeks, today’s climb is modest.
USDCAD 1 hour
To recap, Trump threw a fit about Canadian certifications of some Gufstream jets and said he was decertifying Bombardier jets. The thing is, Bombardier jets are flown all over the United States and immediately grounding them would be disastrous for air travel.
The market immediately took it as a laughable threat rather than a real action.
This is what Trump said:
Based on the fact that Canada has wrongfully, illegally, and steadfastly refused to certify the Gulfstream 500, 600, 700, and 800 Jets, one of the greatest, most technologically advanced airplanes ever made, we are hereby decertifying their Bombardier Global Expresses, and all Aircraft made in Canada, until such time as Gulfstream, a Great American Company, is fully certified, as it should have been many years ago. Further, Canada is effectively prohibiting the sale of Gulfstream products in Canada through this very same certification process. 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. Thank you for your attention to this matter!
The heart of the matter is that Canada is now taking steps to check and certify planes after the 737 MAX fiasco and some Trump donor didn’t like it that his private jet was delayed.
So what’s the lesson here? We’ve seen this before but the market just doesn’t take tariff threats seriously anymore. Even Bombardier shares are down only 6%, which isn’t even as bad as it was on Monday when shares caught a downgrade and fell 10%.
