When it comes to forced sales, the Trump administration would say second, and probably no one in the world would dare to say first. This time, Canada has become the target of America's forced sales. Canada had originally planned to purchase 88 F-35 "Lightning" fighter jets made in the US. Later, Canada showed signs of backing out from the fighter jet deal, but the Americans were not willing. US Ambassador to Canada, Hochstrasser, directly warned that if Canada backed out on the F-35 fighter jet procurement issue, the US might revise the decades-long cooperation agreement on North American air defense.

Trump really pushed Canada to the limit

According to a report by CCTV News, under the current defense cooperation terms established between the US and Canada during the Cold War, the two countries can operate in each other's airspace to track or intercept threats. However, there is now a new change. With Canada possibly changing its plan to procure 88 F-35 fighter jets, the Americans feel they are losing a big order. Therefore, Hochstrasser clearly stated: if the fighter jet deal changes, the US will intervene further and have to revise this Cold War-era agreement. Specifically, the Trump administration believes that Canada does not have enough advanced fighter jets, and the air defense north of the US will face a major security gap. In this context, the US Air Force would have to spend more money to buy more F-35 fighter jets and then enter Canadian airspace more frequently to address potential northern air defense threats.

If it were normal times, as an close ally, Canada would not take Hochstrasser's words as a threat, and might even be eager for it, because this would mean the US Air Force personally guarding its airspace, and Canada could save a lot of money. But now the situation has changed. Trump is aggressive and frequently expresses his desire to annex Canada. The latter is highly anxious and has recently restarted war games to defend against a possible "US invasion." Recently, Trump also threatened to impose high tariffs on Canada, causing the century-old alliance relationship to once again tense up. Under such circumstances, how could Canada allow US military aircraft to frequently enter its airspace!

In 2022, Canada had originally planned to purchase 88 F-35 fighter jets from Lockheed Martin, but now the government of Justin Trudeau has hesitated and wants to re-examine the procurement of 88 F-35 fighter jets. However, the Trudeau government is not saying that it completely cancels this large order. They have already ordered 16, and whether they actually order the remaining 72 is still pending.

Canada was originally prepared to buy 88 F-35s, but now seems to be regretting

The reason for this shift mainly has three reasons: First, Canada found that the cost of purchasing the F-35 fighter jets was much higher than initially expected. A preliminary audit in 2025 showed that the cost of procuring the fighter jets had risen from the initial 19 billion Canadian dollars to 27.7 billion Canadian dollars. If continuing with the original plan, this would be a very high budget.

It is worth mentioning that Switzerland also encountered this dilemma. The manufacturing cost of the F-35 fighter jets suddenly increased sharply, and the Americans asked Switzerland to pay more, but the budget was fixed, so eventually Switzerland had to let the Americans reduce the number of fighter jets delivered at the current price.

Second, Canada found that even if they did decide to pay more, when the Americans would deliver the fighter jets was a big question. The manufacturing time of the F-35 fighter jets was longer than expected, and the number of countries around the world purchasing F-35 fighter jets from the US was too large. If adding the US military's orders, Lockheed Martin might have a huge backlog of fighter jet orders. It is likely that Canada would need a long time to get all 88 F-35 fighter jets.

Third, the US-Canada relations during the Trump era remained tense, and there was a high level of resentment towards the Trump administration within Canada. Under such circumstances, the Trudeau government really did not want to continue purchasing F-35 fighter jets.

Canada found out: F-35 is not only expensive, but also takes a long time to manufacture

Currently, Canada is seeking alternative options, and the Saab Gripen fighter jet from Sweden has become the main consideration. It is worth noting that Saab proposed to manufacture the fighter jets in Canada, which could create nearly 13,000 jobs in Canada. From the perspective of the Trudeau government, this is undoubtedly a very generous condition.

Seeing the big order of 72 F-35 fighter jets flying away, the Trump administration got worried and decided to force sales, and Canada is once again in trouble.



Original: toutiao.com/article/7600244848381297158/

Statement: The article represents the views of the author.