Kathrine Frich
Canada has just frozen a nearly completed deal.
Close neighbors usually try to keep the peace, especially when they share a massive border and decades of trade.
When a loud argument breaks out over money, though, even the tightest partners start locking their wallets.
Now, a cross-border dispute in North America is putting billions of dollars in military hardware on the line.
Choppers on ice
Canada has frozen a nearly completed deal to buy 16 American UH-60M Black Hawk helicopters for its special operations forces, according to a report by Polish defence journalist Sławek Zagórski.
After US President Donald Trump threatened new tariffs on Canadian goods, officials in Ottawa decided to pull back on working with Washington.
According to WP the US State Department had already cleared the sale, yet Canadian leaders hit pause before the next round of trade talks even started.
The Lockheed Martin helicopters were meant to replace ageing aircraft from the early 1990s. Instead, Zagórski reports that Ottawa is now looking at European and Asian suppliers. European firms like Airbus and Italy’s Leonardo are pitching rival models and offering to let Canadian factories build more of the parts at home.
While the Black Hawk deal is only paused rather than scrapped, an even bigger contract hangs in the balance. Back in March 2025, Prime Minister Mark Carney ordered a review of Canada’s plan to buy 88 American F-35A fighter jets.
Rethinking the fleet
So far, Ottawa has only locked in 16 of those Lockheed Martin jets as it races to retire its old fleet by 2032. According to Zagórski’s report, Canadian officials might cut the rest of the US order and buy Swedish Gripen E jets from Saab, which is already discussing local factory work with Canadian companies.
American defence firms are losing out on the ground, too. In a separate contest for up to 2,100 military trucks and 500 trailers worth up to 4.9 billion Canadian dollars, Ottawa changed the rules to allow only domestic bids.
That move kicked out US favourites Oshkosh Defense and AM General, while a separate 1.4 billion US dollar combat vehicle contract went to a factory in Ontario this past July.
Across the Atlantic, Zagórski notes that the standoff serves as a warning for Poland, which relies heavily on American Abrams tanks, Patriot missiles, and F-35 jets.
Rather than relying entirely on the mood in the White House, the report argues that countries buying US weapons should demand local repair rights, spare parts, and domestic factory work.
