PREMIER David Eby, reacting to President-elect Donald Trump’s announcement on Monday that he will sign an executive order imposing a 25-per-cent tariff on all products coming into the U.S. from Canada and Mexico, said on Tuesday: “We’re gonna stand together and we’re gonna ensure that we negotiate from a position of strength, that we negotiate hard, and we ensure that any decisions that are made are in the best interests of British Columbians and Canadians.”
Speaking at the BCFED Convention in Vancouver, Eby said that obviously the tariff will be “devastating to workers on both sides of the border, both in the United States and in Canada” and “the impact on families will be profoundly significant.”
Eby noted: “It’s important to recognize a couple of things. One is that Canada is a major customer of United States businesses. Just as we sell a lot of things to United States’ businesses, we buy more American stuff than France, China and Japan and the United Kingdom combined. So we are negotiating I believe from a position of strength. But also, Americans are dependent on what we produce here in Canada. We are one of the top exporters to the United States and certainly there are our number one customer as well.”
He added: “We have more in common with Americans than what separates us and focussing on that and how we can work together to strengthen and support working families across North America is critically important.”
Eby admitted that there are improvements that Canada can make on its border. HE said: “We’ve called repeatedly for, for example, port police to ensure what comes into British Columbia is not contraband, … is not liquid drugs or precursor chemicals. So there are things we can do to make life better here in British Columbia as well as respond to concerns that have been raised south of the border.”
He asserted: “But I’ll tell you this we’re gonna stand together. We’re gonna stand together as a province, we’re gonna stand together with employers, we’re gonna stand together with labor, and we’re gonna stand together right across this country and ensure that families are protected here in British Columbia.”
