Canada's Fighter Jet Saga Just Got Weirder

Pity Boeing's (NYSE: BA) shareholders. It's starting to look like they bought stock in the gang that couldn't shoot straight.

As a founding member of the nine-nation international coalition that helped Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) design its F-35 stealth fighter, Canada was logically expected to buy this fighter from Lockheed Martin to replace its aging fleet of 60 Boeing-built CF-18 Canadian-variant F/A-18A fighters. At least, that was the plan up until last year. Then, price worries caused Canada to give Boeing a second look, and consider buying at least a handful of new F/A-18s instead while it mulled new plans for a larger acquisition.

Then came the trade war. Irked at Canadian planemaker Bombardier (NASDAQOTH: BDRBF) making inroads in the United States by selling small commercial airliners at as much as 70%-off list price, Boeing petitioned the U.S. International Trade Commission to levy import tariffs on the Canadian company. Canada didn't like this idea one bit, and announced last week that in response, it is canceling its planned purchase of 18 new Boeing F/A-18s (a purchase that might have netted Boeing as much as $1.4 billion in revenue).

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Source: Fool.com