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Canadian jet maker Bombardier has delayed financial forecasts for this year, as the spectre of tariffs from US President Donald Trump threatens upheaval for the country’s biggest companies.
Bombardier, one of the world’s biggest manufacturers of business jets and reliant on the US for much of its sales, said it had pushed back giving guidance because of the “rapidly evolving landscape” on tariffs.
The Montreal-based company on Thursday said it needed more time to “assess the direct and indirect impacts to its business of such tariffs, retaliatory tariffs or other trade protectionist measures implemented as this situation develops”.
Trump has left Canadian businesses reeling after announcing a 25 per cent tariff on imports that was due to take effect on Tuesday, before Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau negotiated a 30-day reprieve.
Éric Martel, Bombardier’s chief executive, said the company had drawn up “multiple contingency plans for multiple scenarios” in the event tariffs disrupt deliveries to the US, but insisted it could “navigate through any kind of challenge”.
In a sign of the gravity of the tariff threat, Trudeau will on Friday convene a summit with business leaders aimed at promoting Canada’s trade with the rest of the world.
The aerospace industry has warned tariffs would damage its supply chains at a time when manufacturers are wrestling with delays and limited supplies of raw materials.
Canada’s Aerospace Industries Association earlier in the week warned the country and the US shared “deeply integrated supply chains, and any new trade barriers risk disrupting economic growth, innovation and jobs on both sides of the border”.
Martel said there is “a lot at stake for our industry”, though the majority of Bombardier’s customers in the US he has spoken to were of the view that “common sense will prevail and this won’t last long”.
Chief financial officer Bart Demosky said the value of Bombardier’s order backlog stretched out to the back half of 2026 and early 2027.
“When you think about the risk of tariffs being in place, I think our customers, who . . . are quite sophisticated, see that as a low probability,” he told analysts on a call.
Martel said: “If you read between the lines here, what we’re selling today are mostly airplanes that will mostly be delivered post midterms.”
Bombardier separately announced strong results for the fourth quarter, with full-year revenues rising 8 per cent to $8.7bn, driven by a record performance in its services business. The group’s adjusted earnings before tax climbed 11 per cent to $1.36bn from a year earlier.
Martel told analysts the company continued to see favourable market conditions in the current quarter, including solid demand for new aircraft and no cancellations.
“We planned to raise the bar again this year but unfortunately this year we lack the clarity to tell our investors exactly what is happening,” Martel said, adding: “Caution doesn’t mean hitting the brakes.”