British Columbia Premier David Eby says he’s hopeful a trip to Washington, D.C., will help convince U.S. decision-makers to step back from the brink on tariffs.
But he said regardless of the outcome of the mission he’s undertaking with other Canadian premiers, the relationship between the two countries has permanently changed.
“Regardless of what the president does, we will never go back to the way that we were before, as Canadians, being way too reliant on the decisions of one person in the White House,” Eby told media before boarding a plane at the Vancouver International Airport on Monday evening.
“We took our relationship for granted, I think.”
U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened to impose 25 per cent tariffs on all Canadian goods. A threat to impose the tariffs on Feb. 1 was delayed by 30 days after a last-minute border deal with the Canadian government.
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Eby and the premiers are scheduled to meet with U.S. elected officials from both parties, along with business leaders and organized labour.
They do not, at this point, have a meeting scheduled with Trump, Eby said.
He said the purpose of the mission was to again hammer home how closely interlinked the Canadian and U.S. economies are, and the “mutually assured damage” damage tariffs will do to businesses and consumers on both sides of the border.
He pointed to a tariff announced on steel and aluminum on Monday as an example. The U.S. is capable of producing less than a quarter of the aluminum it consumes, Eby said.
“These tariffs, even just the tariffs announced today are going to raise costs on so many things for Americans, everything from cars to airplanes, and it doesn’t have to be this way,” he said.
“They are taxing themselves. They will have to buy it from us or buy it from someone else.”
He added he expects the federal government to respond with sanctions of its own to show the U.S. that Canada won’t “roll over.”
He added that he appreciated that the dispute has brought more federal attention to tackling international organized crime at the border, but that he believes the tariffs have more to do with politics and raising U.S. revenue than any legitimate border issues.
In the meantime, Eby said the province remains focused on diversifying markets for B.C. products, both internationally and within Canada by reducing interprovincial trade barriers.
He also touted government efforts to fast-track major projects and cut permitting time.
“It’s so much easier to trade with the United States for so many of our companies, and its a challenge for them to build up markets in other places,” he said.
“We are going to do everything we can to help them do that.”
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has said Canada would retaliate if necessary against Trump’s duties with tariffs of its own on $155 billion of American goods, including alcohol, furniture and natural resources.
In the meantime, Canada has been trying to meet Trump’s demands by shoring up border security and drug enforcement with $1.3 billion in spending.
It’s also promised to appoint a fentanyl czar, to list cartels as terrorists and to launch a Canada-U.S. team to combat organized crime.
With files from the Canadian Press
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