The chaotic path of Trump trade tariffs can be tracked in the travels of British Columbia Premier David Eby.
The premier recently canceled a family trip to Disneyland, heeding a nationwide stay-in-Canada movement in reaction to Trump-imposed U.S. tariffs. Businesses on our side of the border, from a Chevron station in Blaine to Snowbird-themed Florida resorts, have taken a cumulative billions of dollars in hits.
In the meantime, however, Eby jetted off to New York last week, his mission being a reminder that his province have much that the Yanks need to buy. The message, in Eby’s words: “We’re a clean energy powerhouse, a stable and dependable partner with an abundance of natural resources. We will be the economic engine of the new Canadian economy.”
It’s often hard to tell if President Trump is deliberately lying, just plain ignorant, or bent on revenge for a perceived slight. At an Oval Office meeting with Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney, Trump declared: “They have to sign deals with us. They want a piece of our market. We don’t want a piece of their market.”
Not so fast. Let’s consider B.C.’s considerable leverage: British Columbia is the Northwest’s major natural gas supplier. The recently completed TransMountain Pipeline expansion is fueling West Coast refineries. B.C. dams and reservoirs are storing the water that generates power downstream in the US.
The arrogance of Trump has produced fury and feeling of betrayal in the Great White North. It’s reflected in Angus Reid poll findings and shopper comments. “I am angry at the Trump Administration for their arrogant and heavy-handed treatment of us,” declared Tom Willis, a retired Vancouver college instructor.
The souring of relations has been striking. Eighty-one percent of Canadians had positive views of America in 1995, with Bill Clinton in the White House, according to an Angus Reid poll. The approval dropped to 55 percent in 2005, under George W. Bush, and is down to 39 percent with Trump making annexation noises. According to polls, a solid 90 percent oppose his “51st state” proposal.
With 4,200 miles of peaceful border, the U.S. and Canada have built the world’s premier trading partnership. British Columbia exports to the U.S. totaled $54 billion (CDN) in 2024 with copper ore, softwood lumber, natural gas, and coal briquettes leading the way.
The Trump tariffs have Canada scrambling for new markets, notably trans-Pacific trade. A massive liquified natural gas project is underway at Kitimat, a port in northern B.C., which is already home to an aluminum smelter.
“Obviously when someone turns its back, you have to find ways to strengthen the Canadian economy and look to new markets,” Francois Phillipe-Champagne, Canada’s Minister of Finance, told the recent Global Business Forum conference in Banff.
The border has never blocked human bonds. “This is a S-O-V-E-R-E-I-G-N country,” ex-B.C. Premier Dave Barrett loved to exclaim. Yet Barrett had a brother, an oceanographer in La Jolla, California. Eby also has American kinfolk. I once interviewed former (and future) Canadian cabinet minister Lloyd Axworthy in his Ottawa home, and we ended by mapping out a trip down the West Coast to visit his relatives in the Bay Area.
Even if family members have migrated south, Canada’s leaders are inflicting a price on imports coming north, in the form of retaliatory tariffs and outright bans. California wines and craft beer have been taken off shelves of B.C. liquor stores; Kentucky bourbon is likewise no longer available in Ontario.
Carney has played Trump with skill. He has cultivated a one-on-one relationship of a sort favored by “the Donald.” He has recognized that Trump wants a deal, even a bad deal, and responded accordingly. Canada responded to Trump’s tariffs by imposing its own duties on products moving north. Having shown he means business, however, Carney has turned around and quietly removed the counter-tariffs except on copper, steel, and aluminum.
It’s all part of an effort to get a trade deal. Bluff and bluster from the White House, patience from Ottawa. Carney has also acted to reduce the timelines on approval of major projects, such as mines for critical minerals in northern British Columbia.
The Trump Administration’s latest move is a threat to end pre-clearance of U.S.-bound passengers at Canadian airports. The idea was floated by Pete Hoekstra, U.S. Ambassador to Canada, a man who can’t figure out why Canadians are suddenly sour on his country. “I’m disappointed that I came to Canada — a Canada where it is very very difficult to find Canadians who are passionate about American-Canadian relationships,” Hoekstra said in a speech to the Halifax Chamber of Commerce.
Canadians are passionate about being an independent country. A recent Angus Reid poll registered overwhelming hostility to Trump’s notion of Canada becoming “the 51st state.” Eighty-one percent correctly identified Trump as a bully. “There are some places that are never for sale,” Carney told Trump at a photo op when the two last met. “Never say never,” replied Trump. “They have to sign deals with us.”
A final irony: The Trump tariffs are doing economic harm on the American side of the border. Tourism boycotts by Canadians have hurt hotel bookings from Montana to Florida. Vehicle traffic into Whatcom County was down 65,000 cars in March of this year from 2024. The tourism boycott is hitting such local events as the Northwest Raspberry Festival and Washington State Fair.
Yet Trump blusters on, last week imposing tariffs on imported kitchen cabinets, upholstered furniture, and heavy trucks. He is threatening to slap a duty on pharmaceuticals. An air of unreality hangs over the guy. The latest wild Trumpian claim, “There’s no inflation. We’re having unbelievable success.”
This article also appears in Cascadia Advocate.
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best writing and reporting. thank you Joel. one learns to turn to Post Alley for trenchant comment and regional, national and international news.
Excellent article, Joel. Like so many other citizens of the U.S., I marvel at the stupidity of our president, and his inability to see what is happening to our combined relationship. Tariffs and language offered and spoken by Trump have done serious damage to this relationship with our northern neighbor, and it will take years to repair, I fear. Your article speaks so clearly to what is at stake for us in the messy business.