B.C. Premier David Eby was cautiously optimistic Thursday after Canada emerged largely unscathed from U.S. President Donald Trump’s global tariff announcements on so-called “Liberation Day.”
Eby said he credits Prime Minister Mark Carney for what “appears to be a de-escalation, for now” of cross-border relations.
“I’m hopeful that this new constructive relationship that appears to be evolving with the prime minister and the president means some stability,” Eby told reporters from the legislature’s Rose Garden.
Eby and his fellow premiers met virtually with Carney earlier in the day. While he offered congratulations to the prime minister for the current calm, he also said Canada “can’t trust” that things will stay that way for long.
Although no new tariffs were announced for Canada this week, the aluminum smelter in Kitimat is subject to the existing 25 per cent duties. B.C. also makes some auto parts, and many in the province are already potentially impacted by recent hits to the stock market.
“The chaos from the president’s announcement yesterday is the equivalent to trying to cook a steak and burning the entire house down,” said Ravi Kahlon, chair of the provincial cabinet committee appointed to respond to the trade war.
Eby remains worried that Trump will hammer B.C.’s softwood lumber with tariffs, on top of the existing 14.5 per cent duties.
“My concern is that the president has committed to targeting our softwood lumber industry even more than the Americans already have,” he said.
American booze will stay off B.C.’s provincial liquor store shelves, and Eby said more measures to fight back are needed. The B.C. NDP pushed ahead Thursday with legislation allowing it to toll commercial trucks heading to Alaska, while removing barriers to inter-provincial trade and directing government to avoid American products.
“If you don’t stand up to the bully, then the bully only comes back for more,” said Eby.
The opposition B.C. Conservatives support streamlining interprovincial trade, but also want the province to improve its tax scheme. Otherwise, they say, B.C. will lose workers to other provinces.
“We absolutely need to remove those regulatory and compliance hurdles with interprovincial trade barriers, but we also have to have a competitive tax regime at the same time,” said Peter Milobar, Conservative finance critic.
Eby is meeting Carney in person next week when he comes to B.C. The premier said he’ll push to keep BC’s needs prioritized in team Canada’s trade war response. Meanwhile, the premier is meeting Friday with representatives from the forestry sector in Prince George, to discuss way to protect BC’s biggest export industry.
