The threat of the United States’ tariffs has now landed, and the Province and country as a whole have prepared in order to retaliate.
At midnight on Tuesday, March 4th, United States President Donald Trump’s looming tariffs officially came into effect and Canada has now responded with tariffs of their own.
The measures being taken against Canada by the US include 25% tariffs on all Canadian goods, with the exception of 10% tariffs on Canadian energy.
As the United States tariffs came into effect, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau provided a statement on how the Canadian government would respond.
“Let me be unequivocally clear – there is no justification for these actions,” said Trudeau.
He then said that since the 30-day pause negotiated between himself and Trump, Canada had done all it could to meet the United States demands regarding border security and fentanyl trafficking between the two countries.
These measures included implementing a $1.3 billion border plan, appointing a Fentanyl Czar to oversee ceasing any remaining fentanyl trafficking over the border and establishing a Canada-U.S. Joint Strike Force on organized crime.
Between December 2024 and January 2025, fentanyl trafficking was brought down by 97% with only 0.03 pounds being seized at the border in that time.
With all these measures in place or underway, Trudeau says there is no reason for the United States to be going through with the tariffs being imposed on Canada, so the Canadian government has imposed tariffs of their own.
“Canada will not let this unjustified decision go unanswered,” said Trudeau.
“Should American tariffs come into effect tonight, Canada will, effective 12:01 a.m. EST tomorrow, respond with 25 per cent tariffs against $155 billion of American goods – starting with tariffs on $30 billion worth of goods immediately, and tariffs on the remaining $125 billion on American products in 21 days’ time.”
Trudeau says that Canadian tariffs against the United States will remain in place until the US tariffs are withdrawn.
He added that, should the United States’ tariffs not cease, the federal government is in active and ongoing discussions with the provinces and territories to pursue several non-tariff measures.
“Because of the tariffs imposed by the US, Americans will pay more for groceries, gas, and cars, and potentially lose thousands of jobs,” said Trudeau.
“Tariffs will disrupt an incredibly successful trading relationship. They will violate the very trade agreement that was negotiated by President Trump in his last term.”
The Canadian government also said they will commit to redistributing any revenue made from the Canadian tariffs back to the people and businesses of Canada.
BC measures to protect economy
At 9 a.m. on Tuesday March 4th, Premier David Eby addressed British Columbians in regards to the US tariffs.
“When the president raised the issue of tariffs, he said it was about fentanyl and the border,” said Eby.
“Canada and all of the provinces worked together to respond to the president’s demands in good faith that that was really what this was about. I would say that without doubt, the president’s demands were met and yet it did not matter, it didn’t work.”
He continued by saying that he believes the tariffs were actually about Trump’s claims to want Canada as the United States’ 51st state.
“We didn’t ask for this fight that the president has brought to Canada and to British Columbia, but I’ll tell you this, we’re not going to shrink from it.”
“The president wants to hurt Canadians, he wants to hurt British Columbians, then we have no choice but to respond in kind to the United States.”
Eby added that this will increase prices for Americans for everything from pasta, to the cost of a home, a car, to turn on the lights and to fill up a vehicle with gas.
Additionally, he says there will be massive job losses as industry shifts to avoid paying extra for raw materials.
So, the measures being introduced by BC to aid Canada in fighting the tariffs will begin with pulling all American liquor from red states off of the shelves of liquor stores.
“This is a deliberate decision to target red state liquor products,” said Eby.
“There’s a bit of a message in it. We understand who is attacking us, we understand where this is coming from and we want to send a message particularly to those governors, those congresspeople, when they hear from their constituents about this, they have a chance to stand up to the president and point out the jobs in the community are dependent on a good relationship from Canada.”
Additionally, Eby says that any procurement of goods by the BC government will be done with Canadian companies, with a focus on BC products and any gaps left by the federal government to help people impacted by the tariffs will be filled by the Province.
Lastly, Eby urges all British Columbians to prioritize buying Canadian products and choose to travel within Canada instead of to the United States.
As BC looks forward to the coming year with tariffs imposed, and is set to release the budget on March 4th, Eby says that the main focus will be to grow the British Columbian economy.
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