Projections show U.S. President Donald Trump’s promised tariff on Canadian goods could be a more serious hit for British Columbia’s economy than the 2008 recession, Premier David Eby said as he pledged pandemic-style relief measures.
Eby said Tuesday that 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 the 25 per cent tariff 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.
“We’re willing to fight for our country.”
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.
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.”
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.
Source/The Canadian Press
