Oppose Using Aircraft Safety Certification as Trade War Tool

I am writing to urge you to oppose President Trump's threat to decertify all Canadian-made aircraft and impose a 50% tariff on planes from Canada. This dangerous precedent of weaponizing aviation safety certification in a trade dispute puts American travelers, businesses, and rural communities at serious risk. No president has ever decertified aircraft directly. This authority has historically been left to aviation safety experts at the Federal Aviation Administration for good reason. Richard Aboulafia, managing director of AeroDynamic Advisory, called using aircraft safety as a tool in a trade war "an incredibly bad idea." Aviation safety decisions must remain with technical experts, not be subject to political whims. The potential impact on American air travel would be catastrophic. There are currently 648 passenger CRJ regional jets made by Bombardier in use by United, Delta, and American Airlines. These planes make more than 2,600 flights daily with 175,000 available passenger seats every day. Regional airlines are the only source of flights for 64% of US airports. Grounding these aircraft would leave many smaller airports in rural areas without air service and cause widespread transportation chaos. Beyond passenger aviation, this threat affects thousands of American jobs. Bombardier employs 3,000 US workers across 9 facilities and works with 2,800 US suppliers. One facility in Fort Wayne, Indiana, recently announced expansion plans that would now be jeopardized. The administration has provided no legal mechanism for how aircraft decertification would work, no executive order has been issued, and it remains unclear whether the president even has this authority. Making aviation safety decisions based on trade negotiations rather than technical expertise sets a reckless precedent that could endanger lives. I urge you to publicly oppose this action and work with colleagues to ensure aviation safety certification remains with FAA experts where it belongs. American travelers and communities deserve better than having their safety used as a bargaining chip.