Premier David Eby says the BC Government will be pausing its response to 25 per cent tariffs that United States President Donald Trump had originally planned to impose on Canada.
This afternoon, it was announced the tariffs would be delayed for 30 days, with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaking on a $1.3 billion plan to strengthen the border that was originally announced in December.
“First of all, I would like to thank the Prime Minister and his team, and the President for coming together to find some resolution to the tariff threat that was imposed on Canada and Canadian families,” Eby said during a news conference this afternoon. (Monday)
“I think this work and this conversation is incredibly important, if we can avoid these tariffs, we should, but we won’t do so at the expense of our sovereignty, or of our integrity as a country, or of ourselves as Canadians.”
Eby added Trump’s actions have changed the relationship between our countries for the foreseeable future.
“Our work continues while this tariff threat hangs over our heads, first of all, we will pause our response, recognizing there is an opportunity here to potentially avoid these tariffs, and hoping in good faith that that is the path this ultimately takes,” Eby said.
“But that doesn’t mean we will abandon our preparations for non-tariff measures if there’s a tweet tomorrow that puts the tariffs back on. We need to be prepared, we will be prepared, and we will continue our work to respond, and hopefully we don’t need to and we can all move forward.”
Eby said his government will be working with retailers, manufacturers and food processors to identify which products are from British Columbia and Canada to make it easier for consumers to identify them.
He added there’s not a rush to put American liquor back on store shelves, but they will ultimately end up back there.
(From the files of Darin Bain)
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