Dem
47
GOP
53
As you no doubt have read here and elsewhere, many Canadians are boycotting American products to show their displeasure at the idea of becoming the 51st state. Some of the items being boycotted are as small as bottles of Coca-Cola, but some are a wee bit more expensive. Canada's new prime minister, Mark Carney, has instructed Defense Minister Bill Blair to review the deal in which Canada agreed to buy 88 F-35 fighter jets. Specifically, Blair has been instructed to see if there are any other options "given the changing environment." These babies are around $100 million a pop, so 88 of them weigh in at around $9 billion. But spare parts, maintenance, upgrades, training and more are a large part of the picture. The total cost over the full life cycle of all the planes over multiple decades could amount to $50 billion.
Only 16 F-35s have been legally ordered, and given Donald Trump's habit of reneging on contracts all the time, Canada might even try to worm out of these if a better alternative can be found. As we noted on Monday, there are three serious supersonic European jet fighters for sale, the Typhoon, the Gripen, and the Rafale.
If Carney plays his cards right, he will hold high-level and widely publicized talks with the CEOs of the companies that make the European planes. Then he will announce that they have all made him extremely good offers for planes that are known to work well, whereas the F-35 is still in the debug stage. Carney might be able to wring some serious concessions out of Trump as the president tries to save face. Or, in the end, he might decide to buy fewer F-35s and spend the rest of the money on one of the European fighter jets. That would sting Trump badly. (V)