You ordered a Bombardier. What happens if Washington blocks delivery?

Bombardier's answer to President Donald Trump came with a list of American jobs and suppliers. The company said it employs 3,500 people in the United States, works with 2,800 U.S. suppliers and spends more than $2.5 billion with American suppliers each year. Its Global 8000 wings are also produced in Texas, Reuters reported.Earlier that day, Trump threatened to stop Bombardier from selling aircraft in the United States."NO MORE SELLING BOMBARDIER IN THE UNITED STATES!" Trump wrote on Truth Social. "Their products aren't good enough! If they want our Market, they must build here, and stop treating America like a ‘piggybank.'"How Washington would block those deliveries remains unclear. Bombardier aircraft are already approved by the FAA, and Reuters reported that the White House did not immediately explain what action it would use to prevent deliveries. Reuters also reported that Bombardier shares initially fell more than six percent Tuesday before recovering some of those losses.For an American customer who has already signed a purchase agreement, wired a deposit, arranged financing and agreed to sell an existing aircraft, the distinction matters. A tariff could increase the cash needed at delivery. A delivery restriction could change whether closing can happen at all. The financing and the sale of the old airplane may each carry deadlines of their own.One government decision could suddenly put several transactions out of sequence.Who pays the additional bill?There is currently no new Bombardier tariff attached to Trump's September 7 threat. In fact, Bombardier aircraft have largely avoided the tariffs affecting other industries. Reuters noted that the company's aircraft comply with the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, while Holland andamp; Knight wrote in March that civil aircraft qualifying under the longstanding Agreement on Trade in Civil Aircraft were exempt from the broad U.S. tariff imposed in February.That could change if Washington takes additional action. If it does, who ultimately absorbs the cost could come down to the contract.Federal regulations make duties attaching to an import a personal debt of the importer. The commercial agreement between buyer and seller can separately determine who ultimately bears that expense.Aviation attorneys Jonathan Epstein and Libby Bloxom of Holland andamp; Knight wrote during the 2025 tariff dispute that aircraft buyers and sellers should specifically negotiate how tariff costs are allocated. They also suggested considering whether a tariff increase above an agreed threshold should qualify as a force majeure event.Those protections need to be in an existing agreement. They do not arrive with the president's announcement.Consider a hypothetical $40 million aircraft financed with a $32 million loan. If a future 25 percent duty applied to the full customs value and the buyer were responsible for it, that would add $10 million. With the financing unchanged, the buyer's cash requirement would jump from $8 million to $18 million.Those numbers are illustrative, not a Bombardier price or an announced tariff. They show why the lender becomes part of the problem quickly. A buyer may have approval to finance the airplane without having approval to finance a new eight-figure government charge.Taking delivery somewhere else does not necessarily solve it. Holland andamp; Knight noted that permanently importing an aircraft into the United States can trigger the applicable duties even when the transaction closes outside the country.What the cancellation clause saysAn old Bombardier contract filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission offers a useful look at how much can depend on negotiated language.In 2003, Williams-Sonoma entered into an agreement to purchase Bombardier Global Express serial number 9120.The agreement addressed government requirements affecting the aircraft and excusable delays. More importantly, its addendum shows how extensively an aircraft purchase agreement can be negotiated. Multiple provisions covering price, termination, default and other buyer and seller rights were changed, while some of the replacement language was withheld from the public SEC filing as confidential.That document is more than two decades old and should not be treated as Bombardier's current standard contract. It does illustrate the larger point: the printed agreement is only the beginning. The amendments can determine what happens when something goes wrong.A current buyer needs to know whether government action permits a delay, a termination, or both, and how long a delay must continue before termination becomes available. The buyer also needs to know what happens to deposits, and whether the manufacturer owes anything beyond returning money already paid.Simply refusing to make the next payment could create a different problem if the agreement does not give the buyer the right to walk away.What Buyers Should WatchThe next exposure may already be sitting in the buyer's hangar.A customer expecting a new Global could have agreed to sell an existing aircraft around the scheduled delivery date. If the old aircraft closes on time but the Bombardier does not arrive, the owner still has trips to fly.Keeping the existing airplane creates another problem. The expected sale proceeds may have been part of the cash planned for the new purchase.The lender has its own timeline, too. A financing commitment may be based on a particular aircraft value, closing date and loan amount. A lengthy delay could require the financing to be extended or reconsidered. An unexpected tariff could change the amount of equity the buyer needs to bring to closing.Finding another airplane may not offer a quick exit. PNC Aviation Finance wrote in January that new-aircraft backlogs remain long, with buyers signing contracts for airplanes that may not arrive for two or three years.Bombardier itself entered the second half of 2026 with a $21.8 billion backlog, up $4.3 billion from the end of 2025. That backlog represents customers whose aircraft purchases already sit somewhere on a production calendar.Trump's threat has not yet erased those delivery dates. It has introduced a new risk that surrounds them.For the owner who has already arranged to sell the current aircraft, keeping it longer and selling it as planned carry different costs. One could postpone the sale proceeds intended for the purchase. The other could leave the owner arranging charter flights while waiting for the replacement—or for their money back.