Eby gets White House pushback after calling Trump’s 51st state plan a ‘non-starter’

B.C.’s premier says he and his counterparts “frank conversations” with U.S. officials about tariffs and the notion of Canada becoming the 51st state.

After British Columbia Premier David Eby and fellow premiers emerged from a White House meeting with advisers to U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday, he wanted to make something clear — Canada would not become the 51st state.

“We had frank conversations about the 51st state comment where we underlined that that was a non-starter, that was obviously consistent among all the premiers,” he said, referring to Trump’s recent musings about Canada joining the United States.

That might be an uncontroversial position north of the border, but it received swift pushback from one of the U.S. officials on the other side of the table, Trump’s deputy chief of staff James Blair.

“To be clear, we never agreed that Canada would not be the 51st state,” Blair posted on social media platform X. “We only agreed to share Premier Eby’s comments.”

Eby had alluded to “some very frank moments across the table” at the hastily arranged meeting for the premiers who are in Washington, D.C., to make the case against Trump’s threatened tariffs on Canadian exports.

Nevertheless, Blair called it a “pleasant meeting,” while Eby said it was “a good and constructive conversation. I think it was positive.”

Also at the meeting was Trump’s director of presidential personnel Sergio Gor.

Eby said the premiers were told they should take the U.S. president at his word regarding his concerns about fentanyl and cross-border security, and the U.S. wanting to be treated fairly in trade.

He said American officials indicated Trump may be interested in meeting with the premiers in the future, and that discussions would continue after other officials in the new U.S. administration were confirmed in their positions.

Trump has threatened a 25 per cent tariff on Canadian goods and 10 per cent on energy, on top of 25 per cent tariffs on all foreign aluminum and steel announced on Monday. The across-the-board Canadian tariff plan has been paused until early March, while the metals tariffs are not due to take effect until March 12.

Eby and other Canadian premiers are in Washington this week as part of the Council of the Federation, which represents all provincial and territorial premiers and is chaired by Ontario Premier Doug Ford.

“My impression was that there was an understanding that what Canada had done around the border had caught the president’s attention, resulted in the pause, but that work needed to continue and that we should continue to return for these meetings and discussions, especially once the key personnel are confirmed,” Eby said to reporters in Washington after the meeting.

Earlier in the day, Eby had told reporters that the “last thing” that B.C. was considering was further economic integration with the United States.

Instead, B.C. was “looking for other customers” for everything from aluminum to seafood.

Eby said before the meeting that “it’s a puzzle” for British Columbians why the U.S. would, for example, place a tariff on aluminum that they cannot get elsewhere.

The ongoing tariff threats come at “a cost of prosperity” to British Columbians, Canadians and Americans alike, he said.

“We encourage the federal government, if we get hit, to hit back. But none of us wants to be in this fight,” Eby said.

“We didn’t ask for it, but we should definitely not shy away from it.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 12, 2025.

Marcy Nicholson, The Canadian Press