(Bloomberg) -- President Donald Trump indicated he would back away from threats to boycott Canadian firm Bombardier Inc., citing the company's workforce in Kansas, as he campaigned in the state ahead of November's midterm election.
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"Because of Roger and his phone call to me, I'm going to be helping a certain air company get themselves straightened away," Trump said Monday during a rally in Park City, Kansas, aimed at boosting Republican Senator Roger Marshall, who faces a closer than expected fight for reelection.
"I'll be helping them because I always viewed them as a Canadian company. You know what I'm talking about. But now we find out they have a presence here, and we're not hurting them if they're in Kansas. So we'll take care of those people, all right, and the jobs," he added.
While Trump did not directly mention Bombardier, his rally was held near the city of Wichita, where the company operates its US headquarters and plans to expand its footprint. Last week, Bombardier said it would invest $50 million in their Wichita operations to build a new North American Learning Center to help aircraft technicians and mechanics develop skills to support the company's growth.
Bombardier also has a supply chain made up of approximately 2,800 American companies across 47 states.
Trump in September had targeted the company amid an escalating trade fight with Canada, vowing to bar the sale of their jets in the US.
"NO MORE SELLING BOMBARDIER IN THE UNITED STATES!" Trump said in a social media post. "Their products aren't good enough! Over 50% of their revenue comes from the United States — They live off American Buyers, American Companies, American Airports, and American Service — All while Canada blocks our GREAT American Banks, and Companies, throughout the U.S.A."
The US and Canada have exchanged retaliatory trade measures after talks on a broader tariff relief deal collapsed in August. Bombardier said at the time of Trump's threat that it was a major contributor to the US aerospace sector, with employees in more than 20 states.
The president's targeting of the aircraft maker drew criticism from both of Kansas' Republican senators, who sought to highlight the company's presence in their state.
"I'm going to fight to keep Bombardier's over 1,200 Kansas jobs. I've already taken that concern inside the Oval Office," Marshall wrote on X at the time. "We agree on the mission: bring more good-paying manufacturing jobs back to Wichita. America buys more than half of what Bombardier sells. If that's the market, more of those planes should be built here."
His counterpart, Republican Senator Jerry Moran in September said he had "reached out to the Trump administration to make certain the President is aware of the significant contributions of Bombardier to Kansas and the importance of its presence in Wichita to many Kansas workers at Bombardier and in the Bombardier supply chain."
Trump's economic fight with Canada has become an issue in some states where supply chains have been squeezed by the retaliatory tariffs and as fresh levies amplify worries about high costs of living that are a dominant issue in the election.
--With assistance from Kate Sullivan and Mathieu Dion.
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