B.C. Premier David Eby boarded a flight Monday night to Washington, D.C., to join Canada’s other premiers in pre-planed trade meetings with American lawmakers, hours after President Donald Trump announced new tariffs on steel and aluminum.
He told reporters at YVR that he’d be driving home the negative impacts the tariffs will have on American businesses and families and emphasize the importance of the “tied nature of our two economies.”
With the stroke of a pen, Trump signed executive orders reversing a pledge to hold off on tariffs until next month at the earliest, and imposed massive tariffs on steel and aluminum Monday, including from Canada.
“A 25 per cent tariff with no exception on all aluminum and all steel,” said Trump as he signed the orders.
“Though we did see tariffs today, and I am certain that the federal government will respond, and certainly we call on them to respond proportionately, to ensure that we send the message that we’re not going to roll over on this stuff,” Eby said.
Canada is the biggest source of both steel and aluminum for the U.S., and earlier in the day Monday, Catherine Cobden, president of the Canadian Steel Manufacturers Association, had expressed her industry’s concern about the impact of potential tariffs.
“We think the suggestion of putting tariffs on Canadian steel is egregious and we actually have a track record to prove that, so let’s hope that’s what our government is doing as we speak,” she said.
Trump imposed 25 per cent tariffs on steel and 10 per cent on aluminum for a year during his first presidency. These tariffs, which are higher on aluminum, are expected to exact major pain on the B.C. aluminum industry, where the smelter in Kitimat employs an estimated 1,500 workers.
The tariffs will also be hard on Americans, says B.C. Housing Minister Ravi Kahlon, who notes the reliance of many in the U.S. on Canadian aluminum and steel.
“To get a smelter online, its five or six years and so that means consumers in the United States are going to see 25 per cent increase on everything for the next four years,” said Kahlon Monday.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is in Paris meeting with foreign leaders and has yet to respond to reporters’ questions about the tariffs.
His ambassador to France, Stephane Dion, did weigh in on the matter, before Trump made it official by signing the orders.
“The administration is not as reliable as we thought, not respecting treaties as we thought, we need Europeans and Canadians to work very closely,” said Dion, stressing the growing importance of Canada diversifying its trading partners.
Trump has also reiterated in the last two days his desire to annex Canada using economic force.
“If they became our 51st state it would be the greatest thing they could ever do,” he told reporters on Sunday aboard Airforce One. “Without the U.S. Canada really doesn’t have a country. They do almost all of their business with us.”
Addressing the latest annexation comments from Trump, Eby said “that’s never going to happen, but what we are interested in doing is working with the Americans on our shared prosperity.”
It’s not certain when the tariffs will kick in. And how exactly Canda and B.C. respond to them will be unified, says Kahlon.
“We need to respond as a collective, we are stronger as a country when we move together, we’ve shown that already, and that will be consistent as we go forward,” he said.
With files from CTV News Vancouver’s Kaija Jussinoja
