Canada is reviewing a major purchase of U.S.-made F-35 combat planes amid serious tensions with the Trump administration, a spokesperson for the Canadian defense ministry told AFP on Saturday.
That announcement came two days after Portugal said it too was reexamining a possible purchase of American F-35 fighter jets amid rising international anger over the tariff war President Donald Trump has launched and his wavering support for the Atlantic alliance.
Trump rattled America's northern neighbor by imposing 25 percent tariffs on all Canadian products before agreeing to suspend levies on Canadian exports covered by a North American trade pact.
And he has regularly infuriated Canadians by suggesting their country become the 51st U.S. state.
In one of his first official acts since taking office Friday, Prime Minister Mark Carney has asked the defense ministry "to determine if the F-35 contract, as it stands, is the best investment for Canada, and if there are other options that could better meet Canada's needs," according to an email from Laurent de Casanove, the ministry spokesperson.
The Canadian government in January 2023 signed a contract with giant U.S. defense company Lockheed Martin to purchase 88 F-35s for a total of Can$19 billion ($13.2 billion).
It has already paid for a first shipment of 16, set for delivery early next year.
The deal has not been canceled, but "we need to do our homework given the changing environment, and make sure that the contract in its current form is in the best interests of Canadians and the Canadian Armed Forces," the statement said.
Portugal indicated Thursday that it was studying both American F-35s and European aircraft as it looks to replace its air force's aging F-16s.
Outgoing defense minister Nuno Melo raised those options in an interview Thursday in the daily Publico, referring to the "predictability of our allies" and "the recent position of the United States, in the context of NATO and on the level of international geostrategy."
© 2025 AFP
12 Comments
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Desert Tortoise
Portugal is also considering cancelling its order of F-35As
TokyoLiving
Excellent..
Don't buy that overrated US flying crap..
bass4funk
Good
For us, yes.
The Chinese and the Europeans don’t think so. You say the weirdest things….
plasticmonkey
How is losing customers "excellent" for "us".
bass4funk
Let’s see now…
We have Poland, as well as Switzerland interested in purchasing more of the Jet, one man’s loss is another man’s gain….add Canada to that list..
plasticmonkey
That doesn't make sense. You said it's excellent that Canada and Portugal might not buy U.S. fighter jets. (And, btw, Switzerland is having second thoughts about the F-35 purchase.)
How is losing customers excellent?
funkymofo
Because Donnie did it, and the cult leader is infallible.
Blacklabel
These will be sold the minute the orders are canceled.
but yeah we showed Trump! lol
Desert Tortoise
The B's know nothing about how learning and rate affect price. Become acquainted with the work of Hermann Ebbinghaus and Theodore Paul Wright. Their work is used in every aerospace project today. Cancelling production lots the size of Canada's will increase costs across the board for all F-35 buyers, both initial purchase price and subsequent sustainment costs.
Desert Tortoise
Probably not. Rather I expect more prospective customers to look elsewhere. It would not surprise me to see Canada ask to join GCAP.
Amber
Excellent
Desert Tortoise
From someone who never flew a tactical jet, has no idea what kinds of missions it is designed for and what it can actually do. The people who do know are not blogging about it. All I can say is that if you think of it as a traditional air superiority dog fighter you have no idea how the F-35 goes about it's job. It exists for ground attack against targets no fourth gen aircraft could touch. It is the heir to the F117 but with air to air capability. If it is even detected there had to be a lot of mistakes in the mission plan and / or its execution. The pilot's situational awareness is far beyond that of any other modern combat jet.