ST. GEORGE, Utah — President Donald Trump announced Thursday that the U.S. is immediately decertifying passenger planes made in Canada, citing Canada's failure to certify business jets built by American manufacturer Gulfstream.
The banning of Canadian-made planes would greatly affect flights operated by St. George-based SkyWest Airlines.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump said his administration would also add a 50% tariff to all other Canadian aircraft sold into the U.S. unless Canada immediately certifies the Gulfstream planes.
Of the 502 planes in SkyWest's fleet, 237 are Canadian-made Bombardier CRJ jets. All others are the E175 manufactured by Brazil's Embraer.
"We're not aware of any planned or pending decertification action on CRJ commercial aircraft," a SkyWest spokesperson said. "We're confident the Administration recognizes the vital national airspace access the CRJ provides to hundreds of small and underserved communities across the United States."
We’ve reached out to the general manager of St. George Regional Airport and have yet to receive a response. Utah’s rural airports, including Provo, Cedar City and Moab, are mostly served by Canadian-made passenger planes.
Many of the larger wildfire-fighting aircraft used in Utah are made in Canada. That includes the so-called “Super Scooper” planes.
