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How could BC retaliate against US tariff? From trucks driving to Alaska to electricity exports, Eby lists potential targets

British Columbia Premier David Eby was clearly frustrated when he began his news conference on Thursday, complaining that the release of mandate letters would “ordinarily” be “kind of an exciting day.”

Instead, he and his finance minister, Brenda Bailey, were forced to list off the catastrophic damage US President-elect Donald Trump could cause the province if he goes ahead with his pledge to slap a 25 per cent tariff on all Canadian goods.

Eby said it was a “declaration of economic war” and “an attack on Canadians” that could cost BC $69 billion over four years and push unemployment up to 7.1 per cent.

But the premier wasn’t content to play possum: he also issued several threats of his own, emphasizing that “this will affect American families” and “cost them jobs.”

Here’s what he said BC could do to retaliate against the US:

Work with other premiers and Ottawa

Eby said the BC government is “fully supporting” the efforts of the country’s premiers and the federal government to work together to devise a plan to retaliate against the tariff, should it go ahead.

He said he would back the use of “all tools” available to Canada, in marked contrast to Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, who refused to allow oil and gas to be wielded as a potential retaliatory weapon.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has made similar comments, saying this morning that “everything is on the table” for Canada.

Move away from the US, expand trade with other countries

Though BC, blessed as it is with a Pacific coastline, is less dependent on the US than many other provinces, its neighbour to the south still buys more than 54 per cent of all its exports.

The number two destination for BC goods – gobbling up just over 14 per cent of them – is China, the world’s second-largest economy and another country threatened with a devastating tariff by Trump.

Eby said he wanted to work with Ottawa to “partner with other affected countries around the world” and “work with them to respond.”

BC will also look to “deepen our relationships with them,” he added, and “reduce our dependence on the United States.”

Target US trucks using BC to get to Alaska, US firms bidding for BC contracts

The premier highlighted that BC treats American products “like Canadian products” in terms of their availability in stores and “how American goods travel through our province into Alaska … without any charges.”

He also highlighted that American firms can bid for BC contracts and that American alcohol sits “side by side” with BC products in BC Liquor Stores.

“All of that is on the table in an atmosphere where the Americans are attacking BC families,” he said, though the transit of US trucks, concerning as it does Canada’s international border, is a federal matter.

Eby also said he imagines that, in light of Trump’s threats, many Canadians will be “reevaluating their travel plans” to the south and checking the source of products before buying them to ensure they aren’t American-made.

<who> Photo credit: Getty Images

Highlight metals produced in BC

The premier once again highlighted Teck’s Trail Operations plant in the Kootenays, which is one of the largest zinc and lead smelting and refining complexes on the planet.

He also mentioned the Rio Tinto smelter in Kitimat that produces aluminum, the vast majority of which goes to the US.

“In Trail, British Columbia, they produce a metal that is essential for night vision goggles,” he said, adding: “If you don’t get it from Teck in Trail, British Columbia, you don’t get it.”

Eby mentioned both of the above in the context of working with the federal government, which has control over the likes of tariffs.

BC energy going to Americans would cost ‘significantly more’

Another area Eby said BC has leverage in is energy, with the province being “a significant energy exporter to the United States” in the form of electricity, petroleum and natural gas.

“Without these products, Americans pay significantly more for electricity, if they are able to access it,” he said. “They pay significantly more at the pump and they’ll pay significantly more for industrial users of natural gas.”

Trump’s “failure” to recognize that these exports “create American jobs” and reduce costs “is extremely unusual to me,” Eby said.

“It is my hope that that alone will cause a reckoning in the United States and a revisiting of this strategy as a whole,” he added.

“We don’t have to sell electricity to the United States,” Eby said.” “We can sell it to Alberta. We can use it for other purposes domestically in British Columbia. We can inter-tie with the Yukon.”

<who> Photo credit: Getty Images

The West Coast of the US, however, would suffer, according to the premier. He said he believes the province has saved California from power outages recently.

What he didn’t mention, however, is that energy is a double-edged sword for both BC and Canada, with various forms of power crossing the border north and south at various times.

He also failed to mention that, in 2023, BC Hydro was forced to import about 20 per cent of all of its energy from its neighbours – including the US.

Eby concluded by saying he hoped the tariff crisis will blow over soon, but added that it could also be an opportunity for BC and Canada to work on becoming less reliant on the US.

“This is a good reminder to us that the Americans will not always be there for us, and we can’t always count on them,” he said. “We have got to count on ourselves.”

Thumbnail photo credit: BC Government/Getty Images


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