Fighter jet deal would turbocharge Canada-Sweden partnership, says Saab chair

OTTAWA — A multibillion-dollar Canadian purchase of Gripen fighter jets from Sweden’s Saab would be the beginning of a deep industrial integration between the two countries, Saab’s chair Marcus Wallenberg told The Logic in an exclusive interview.

Saab has done this in Brazil after selling Gripen fighters there, he said Wednesday.

“We have set up production there, in joint venture and co-operation with local manufacturers,” he said. Hundreds of Brazilian workers have trained in Sweden to assemble the planes, while local suppliers feed the production lines and local companies become part of the technology ecosystem.

“We come into this with the mindset that if you are entering into a situation where you start producing, locally, this type of aircraft, you have to build up—with a very, very long-term mindset—the technology base locally,” he said.

Wallenberg has the personal clout to make much of that happen. Besides Saab, a major European defence contractor with numerous products besides planes, his family’s holdings include stakes in communications company Ericsson, appliance-maker Electrolux, pharmaceutical developer AstraZeneca and the Nasdaq network of stock exchanges. The Wallenbergs are also collectively the biggest shareholders in private equity firm EQT, which has hundreds of firms in its portfolio; when Telus bought back full control of its Telus Digital subsidiary earlier this year, EQT had been the largest minority shareholder.

Wallenberg was in Ottawa as part of a large business delegation accompanying Sweden’s King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia on a state visit. Before the interview in a private dining room at the capital’s venerable Lord Elgin Hotel, the lobby was full of Swedish-speakers preparing to join the royal party for an event at the national science and technology museum.

The Wallenberg family has been central to Swedish finance and industry since the 19th century. It thinks in decades; Marcus was accompanied by Lovisa Cavalli Wallenberg—the child of a cousin who also leads in the business, and part of the next generation being groomed for leadership.

Lovisa Cavalli Wallenberg, left, and Marcus Wallenberg are part of a family dynasty in Swedish business. Photo: Justin Tang for The Logic

They had one aide, Oscar Stenström, whose business card identifies him as “director and senior advisor” in the family office and “former ambassador.” Specifically, Stenström was Sweden’s ambassador to Chile, advised Sweden’s prime minister on foreign affairs, and led the negotiations for his country’s entry to NATO.

Canada has famously already decided not to buy Saab’s fighter jets, choosing F-35 fighters made by U.S.-based Lockheed Martin instead. The military has been preparing for those and there are strong arguments for sticking with them, but Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government is reconsidering the purchase in light of President Donald Trump’s belligerence this year. Canada is contractually obliged to buy 16 F-35s; a further 72 are in the original plan.

Although no public decision has been made on changing that, let alone a fresh procurement process launched, Canada is clearly seeking alternatives and Saab has started making its new pitch—at Canada’s request.

“We were asked questions by the authorities here,” Wallenberg said simply. Canada wants to “really understand how much—what kind of impact could this co-operation lead to.”

Industry Minister Mélanie Joly, whose department oversees the economic benefits tied to defence purchases, has been proud of looking out for Canada’s own interests in any potential deal.

When Canada makes a big buy, she said at an Ottawa space industry conference Tuesday evening, it will insist on owning key intellectual property so it can repair and maintain its purchases without asking for permission from a foreign capital like Washington.

Furthermore, Joly said, “we will also be very transactional to say, ‘OK, I’m buying your submarines, you buy some satellites from us.’… That’s how countries are doing it. So we should not be naive, and we should be doing that.”

Separately, she’s said she’s seeking more from Lockheed Martin, restarting a bidding war for a deal already made.

A Brazilian air force Gripen in flight; Canada previously opted not to buy the Swedish fighters. Photo: AP Photo/Andre Penner

Saab is putting specific things on the table. It already buys aircraft bodies from Bombardier to transform into military surveillance planes in Sweden; it’s offering to do the whole job in Canada. Wallenberg himself noted the prospect of exporting Canadian-made Gripens, alluding to an October agreement that could see dozens of them produced for Ukraine.

Sweden ratified the Canada-EU Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement in May 2018. Bilateral merchandise trade reached about $4.9 billion in 2024—a 90 per cent increase over 2016.

Wallenberg said it is “obvious” to him that the Swedish businesses he is involved in overseeing have increased their presence, investments and operations in Canada. He said the strategic partnership that Sweden and Canada announced on Tuesday would pave the way for more in areas such as defence, life sciences, artificial intelligence and forestry. “I think it’s just a matter of continuing this march towards deeper co-operation.”

On Tuesday, Sweden’s Deputy Prime Minister Ebba Busch alluded to shifting geopolitics when she joined Carney in his office alongside Sweden’s king and queen.

“I believe that in difficult times you should really choose your friends wisely, and this is the reason Sweden is choosing Canada,” she said.

Stenström, the former ambassador, noted that Canada jumped to welcome Sweden to NATO when it sought full membership following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and helped Sweden join a key critical-minerals alliance.

Wallenberg said he believes Sweden and Canada have common values, which can help facilitate mutual trade and investment.

“I think that we seem to understand each other in a good way; seem to have an easy time working together,” he said. “And as far as I know, Canadians are viewed as very reliable people,” he added, “which is important if you’re going to build trust in business partnerships.”

He downplayed any meaningful differences in national policies, though he said that “non-carbon power” such as nuclear and hydro is essential for Swedish industry. Canada’s overtures—and its plans to spend billions of dollars on military gear alone—are being received warmly, that means, but its potential new and closer friends can have expectations, too.

Wallenberg views the rise in protectionism as an unfavourable development, but he believes that businesses will learn to adjust. “We now live in a new world and you have to adapt and I think that’s what business does,” he said. He thinks global trade will, too. “I think trade is like water. It finds new ways over time,” he said, pointing to the increased flows of Chinese goods into Europe and other parts of Asia that he thinks is at least partially linked to tariffs.

Still, he sounded a cautionary note. U.S. tariff rates this year reached their highest levels since the 1930s. That was when the U.S. imposed steep duties on foreign goods through the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act as a way to protect domestic industries during the Great Depression—to disastrous effect.

“If you go back to that time, that was not a very good time for the world economy,” Wallenberg said. “We’re living in new times, so it’s hard to say that it’s going to be exactly the same, but it’s something to be aware of going forward.”