B.C. Premier David Eby will outline the province’s next steps this afternoon in a potential trade war with the United States that seems to have cooled off for now.
Earlier today, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said that U.S. President Donald Trump will hold off levying tariffs on Canada for at least 30 days after Canada made a series of commitments to improve security along the border.
Trudeau says he told the president that Canada is pressing ahead with a $1.3-billion border security plan that includes reinforcing the 49th parallel with new choppers, technology and personnel, as well as a promise to appoint a new fentanyl “czar” to tackle the issue of illegal drugs on both sides of the border.
Eby will share his response at an event scheduled for 4:30 p.m. PT that will be broadcast live on cbc.ca/bc and CBC News B.C.
B.C. singled out by Trump, province ready to hit back
Over the weekend, Trump had made specific mention of B.C. and its role in the “heightened domestic production of fentanyl” as one of the reasons he would be imposing a 25 per cent tariff on Canadian goods sold in the United States.
In response, Eby suggested that rather than imposing tariffs, Canada and the U.S. should bring law enforcement and intelligence agencies together to address the movement of fentanyl across borders.
B.C. Premier David Eby says his province will work to strengthen its domestic economy and ensure it’s diversifying its markets around the world in order to reduce its reliance on the U.S.
He also announced specific actions the province was taking to hit back at the United States, including removing alcohol from “red” or Republican-leaning states from the shelves of provincially-run liquor stores, ordering Crown corporations to avoid contracts with American companies and working with B.C.-based resource companies to divert critical minerals and energy away from the United States and toward other trading partners.
Eby is expected to announce whether these measures will continue, or be paused as is happening in Ontario under Premier Doug Ford.
Regardless of what happens in the short term, though, British Columbia has already indicated it will be seeking to diversify and strengthen its relationship with countries other than the United States, with Eby saying that the world is experiencing a “historic reordering” of global trade and vowing that his province would not be left behind.