Eby says tariffs could hit B.C. harder than 2008 crisis, backs pandemic-style relief

B.C. Premier David Eby speaks during a news conference in Vancouver, on Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ethan Cairns

Projections show U.S. President Donald Trump’s promised tariffs on Canadian goods could hit British Columbia’s economy harder than the recession triggered by the 2008 global financial crisis, Premier David Eby said as he backed pandemic-style relief measures.

Eby said Tuesday his government would make sure “every harm that is inflicted on British Columbia families is met and matched with a response to the United States.”

The premier said retaliatory tariffs on U.S. imports, part of the federal government’s proposed response to Trump’s threat, would generate billions of dollars that should be “immediately deployed” across Canada to help people and businesses.

Trump has threatened to introduce 25 per cent tariffs on Canadian goods starting on Saturday, and his press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, told reporters at the White House on Tuesday the plan was “still on the books” for that day.

Eby said he thought there was “still time for President Trump to work with us,” as Canadian officials have indicated a strong desire to address his concerns around the flow of illegal drugs and migrants from Canada into the United States.

“This isn’t a fight we asked for. We don’t want it, we don’t need it, but we are willing to respond to these tariffs proportionately and as is required,” he said at a news conference on the Vancouver waterfront.

“We’re willing to fight for our country.”

Eby said the U.S. tariffs were unjustified, and it may be that the only way for Americans to hear that message is to feel the consequences of Canadian retaliation.

Americans would see higher prices even if Canada did nothing, he said.

“But I believe that we can step up that pain, that we can target it to specific Republican districts where there is support for this agenda, and get the attention of folks about how integrated we are,” Eby said, likening the trade dispute to “family members who are fighting” or longtime friends who aren’t speaking to each other.

“It is bizarre. We have so many shared priorities and interests and shared prosperity, but we will not back down just because the bully is more powerful and bigger than us.”

Eby said every decision his ministers are making, including plans for next month’s budget, is being made through the lens of a potentially “protracted trade war.”

“The projections that we have seen indicate this could be more serious for our provincial economy than the 2008 recession,” he told a news conference.

Eby said relief measures could include pandemic-style employment insurance for people who may be laid off as their employers feel the pinch, as well as grants and loans for businesses.

“These are the kinds of responses that we expect to see through this period.”

The 2008 global financial crisis threw B.C.‘s economy into reverse, going from three per cent growth in 2007 to a 2.3 per cent contraction in 2009, according to the province’s annual financial and economic reviews. It was the first contraction in GDP since 1982, with 54,900 jobs lost from 2008 to 2009 as unemployment spiked to 7.6 per cent and retail sales plunged.

The B.C. government recently estimated the tariffs and a similar response from Canada would cumulatively cost the province $69 billion in lost GDP if the trade war were to last the entire four years of the Trump presidency.

Still, Eby said B.C. has the people, skills and other resources it needs to emerge stronger and more independent on the other side of the tariff threat.

“I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else in the world facing a threat like this.”

There are also opportunities to boost trade between provinces, Eby said.

“If we’re going to be successful in this tariff battle, we’ve got to buy each other’s stuff across Canada. We’ve got to buy Canadian first, we’ve got to take our own advice.”

The province will hope for the best and prepare for the worst as it waits to see exactly what form the U.S. tariffs will take, the premier said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 28, 2025.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 28, 2025.