Victoria to consider all ways of combating President Donald Trump’s trade war

Victoria’s city council will be discussing ways in which the City can fight United States President Donald Trump’s looming tariffs on Canada in this week’s committee of the whole meeting. 

The council member motion was penned by Councillor David Thompson and co-sponsored by Mayor Marianne Alto. 

The threats of 25% tariffs on all Canadian goods, along with 10% tariffs on Canadian energy and oil, would bring about a trade war between Canada and the United States. 

This motion states that the City of Victoria should be coming up with ways to fight these tariffs in a unified response with other levels of government, who have already announced preliminary measures. 

Though the tariffs have been once again delayed after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau spoke with Trump about a new border security deal, the threat of these tariffs remains. 

In the motion, a statement from the Federation of Canadian Municipalities was included which says, “Local governments have an important role to play to protect Canada’s economy.” 

“As such, mayors and councils across the country are evaluating tools at their disposal, including municipal procurement, to respond to potential tariffs. At the same time, we have a role to play in enabling and facilitating economic diversification to ensure our communities emerge from this economic threat stronger than ever,” the statement continued.

Already, mayors in Sidney, Langford and other municipalities across BC and Canada as a whole have brought forth motion to their councils about local countermeasures that can be taken. 

In addition to countermeasures to fight the tariffs and ensure municipalities buy Canadian, some cities are boycotting the X platform due to problematic comments from X owner Elon Musk, who has also been appointed the US government’s head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). 

In his first month as head of DOGE, Musk made many controversial statements, decisions and actions in regards to government departments across the country. 

Councillor Thompson’s motion says that Victoria should follow the lead of some other municipalities in boycotting X as well as amending the City’s purchasing policy to buy more local when possible. 

Specifically, the motion calls on the City of Victoria to direct staff to report on options and implications of addressing the looming trade war. 

It also calls on the City to stop using X and instead communicate with Victoria residents via other social media channels, pursue more opportunities to support local businesses and have Mayor Alto write a letter to the Prime Minister and BC Premier about the actions being taken. 

The matter will be discussed at Victoria’s committee of the whole meeting on Thursday, February 13th.