B.C. looks at 'coalition of willing' to expand trade within Canada, premier says

B.C. Premier David Eby speaks to reporters from his office following the throne speech at the legislature in Victoria, Feb. 18, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chad Hipolito

VICTORIA — The British Columbia government is willing to enter bilateral agreements with other jurisdictions in order to boost interprovincial trade as looming U.S. tariffs threaten Canada's economy, Premier David Eby says.

The threat of U.S. tariffs on Canadian goods and services has pushed the need for improved interprovincial trade as provinces look for ways to diversify their markets to protect economies and jobs. Despite the establishment of the Canadian Free Trade Agreement in 2017, many products do not trade freely among provinces and territories.

"What we need to do is start acting like a country where if you're licensed for a particular profession, or if you're producing a particular good in some part of the province, that you're able to sell it without difficulty or sell your services without difficulty," Eby said on Wednesday.

There's a list of exemptions under the free trade agreement that provinces are grappling with to try to remove as many as possible, he said.

B.C. could enter agreements with a "coalition of the willing" provinces to recognize each other's regimes for trade and professions, if an agreement can't be reached by the federal government, he said.

"British Columbia continues to push at my level, at the First Ministers Meeting level, as well as at the ministerial meeting for a mutual recognition approach," Eby said.

"This is where, if it's good enough for your province, it's good enough for our province."

This could include a limited list of exceptions "but ideally none," he said.

"This is what I understand the approach from Nova Scotia is and it's the approach that we're looking at as well, so that we don't have to wait for the federal government," Eby said.

On Tuesday, Nova Scotia's government introduced a bill aimed at reducing interprovincial trade barriers, with provisions only to be extended to provinces or territories with similar legislation.

The B.C. government is also looking at tabling such legislation and the B.C. public service has already reached out to Nova Scotia to understand its bill's content, Eby said.

"The goal of that was to ensure that British Columbia has tools in place that mesh with and work with the initiatives of other provinces," Eby said.

Premiers spoke with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau earlier Wednesday about trade and many other issues around the threat of American tariffs," Eby said.

The uncertainty created by U.S. President Donald Trump around the tariffs is destabilizing on its own, something that Eby said is a deliberate strategy by the Americans to weaken Canada and reduce the likelihood that people will invest in the country.

This is why the plan to redouble all efforts to diversify away from the United States and find new customers for B.C. goods will remain, he said.

The Committee on Internal Trade will meet in Toronto on Friday to discuss interprovincial trade.

When speaking with the prime minister, Eby said he also raised the idea of taxing thermal coal that comes in by rail from the United States to be shipped out of B.C.'s Deltaport, as first suggested by the B.C. Conservatives. Thermal coal exports fall under federal jurisdiction.

"We need to be all hands on deck on this. We shouldn't be divided at the provincial level, at the federal level. If there are things that we can do to respond to the Americans, we should do it. If there are things we can do to strengthen our economy and diversify our markets, we're going to do it," Eby said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 26, 2025.

Marcy Nicholson, The Canadian Press