Eby Urges Carney to Put $12B U.S. Fighter-Jet Deal and American Coal on the Table

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Canada’s latest confrontation with Washington is no longer just about which imports should face retaliatory tariffs. British Columbia Premier David Eby is pressing Prime Minister Mark Carney to consider something potentially more consequential: whether Canada should keep sending major economic benefits south while absorbing punishing new U.S. trade barriers.

Eby wants Ottawa to reconsider the American-made F-35 fighter-jet purchase and examine U.S. thermal coal moving through British Columbia. His intervention comes after Washington imposed 50% tariffs on $27.6 billion worth of Canadian goods and Ottawa announced matching countermeasures. The proposals would take Canada’s response beyond conventional tariffs and into defence procurement, transportation infrastructure and energy trade — areas where Canadian decisions could impose costs on American businesses while also creating difficult choices at home.

Eby Wants Retaliation to Move Beyond Tariffs

Eby delivered his message in Vancouver on August 25 while welcoming Ottawa’s decision to retaliate against the newest U.S. tariffs. Carney’s government had already committed to matching Washington’s measures dollar for dollar, but the B.C. premier argued that tariffs should not represent the full Canadian response. In his view, Canada should examine areas where the United States benefits directly from Canadian purchases or infrastructure. Two examples stood out: the F-35 fighter program and American thermal coal transported through the Westshore terminal at Roberts Bank.

The setting helped underline Eby’s broader argument. He spoke at a B.C. liquor store and promoted Canadian products while urging British Columbians to support domestic businesses and reconsider travel to the United States. The message was economic as much as political: households, governments and Crown corporations all make purchasing decisions. Eby’s proposal would extend that philosophy to transactions measured not in bottles of wine or vacation spending, but in billions of dollars and strategically important exports.

The $12-Billion Fighter-Jet Figure Is Only Part of the F-35 Story

Eby described Canada as preparing to buy roughly $12 billion worth of fighter jets from the United States. That figure closely reflects the aircraft portion of the F-35 program, but the wider procurement is considerably larger. Canada plans to acquire 88 F-35A fighters to replace its aging CF-18 fleet. The Auditor General reported that National Defence’s estimated cost for the overall Future Fighter Capability Project climbed from $19 billion in 2022 to $27.7 billion in 2024, an increase of about 46%.

Within that revised estimate, the aircraft themselves accounted for approximately $12.2 billion. Other costs include weapons, new facilities, training, equipment, sustainment preparation and contingency funding. That distinction matters because cancelling or reducing the purchase would involve more than simply withholding a cheque from an American manufacturer. Canada has already been constructing facilities and preparing personnel for the transition. Eby’s proposal nevertheless turns one of Ottawa’s largest defence acquisitions into a potential bargaining chip at a moment when procurement policy and trade policy have become increasingly intertwined.

Ottawa’s Existing F-35 Review Gives Eby an Opening

Eby is not asking Carney to reopen a procurement that Ottawa considers completely settled. Carney ordered a review of the F-35 acquisition on March 14, 2025, with the government examining operational requirements, industrial benefits, strategic relationships and possible alternatives. National Defence has continued moving forward with the initial tranche during that review, including commitments involving 16 aircraft. The first eight aircraft are scheduled for delivery to Luke Air Force Base in Arizona in 2026 and 2027 so Canadian pilots can begin training.

The timeline creates a genuine constraint. Canada expects its first F-35s to arrive domestically in 2028, with initial operational capability targeted for 2029. Meanwhile, the CF-18 fleet is being retired and is scheduled to be completely withdrawn by 2032. Any major change therefore has to account for the possibility of a fighter-capability gap. Ottawa has also continued making payments required under existing F-35 arrangements while the review proceeds. Eby’s argument adds another factor to that review: whether purchasing American military hardware remains politically and economically desirable during an escalating trade confrontation.

Westshore Gives Canada an Unusual Coal Lever

The second target proposed by Eby sits much closer to home. Westshore Terminals operates a major coal-loading facility at Roberts Bank in Delta, south of Vancouver. The company says its terminal serves Canadian producers as well as American mines in the Powder River Basin of Montana and Wyoming. U.S. coal can therefore travel north by rail through Canada before being loaded onto ships bound primarily for overseas customers — giving Canadian infrastructure an important role in parts of America’s Pacific coal-export chain.

The scale is substantial. Westshore reported shipping 13.3 million tonnes of product during the first half of 2026, up 3.6% from the same period a year earlier. About 73% of that first-half volume was thermal coal, the type typically burned to generate electricity, although Westshore’s reported figures combine coal from multiple customers and origins and should not be interpreted as 73% American coal. The company also handles metallurgical coal used in steelmaking. Eby’s proposal specifically targets American thermal coal rather than Canadian metallurgical exports, a distinction with major economic consequences for B.C.’s resource sector.

Canada Was Already Planning a Thermal-Coal Exit by 2030

Using coal exports as leverage would not require Ottawa to invent an entirely new policy rationale. Canada announced at the COP26 climate conference in 2021 that it intended to end thermal-coal exports no later than 2030. Federal documents have subsequently described that commitment as applying to thermal coal exported “from and through” Canada, wording that encompasses the issue raised by Eby: foreign coal using Canadian transportation infrastructure to reach international buyers.

Eby is therefore effectively asking Ottawa to consider accelerating an existing direction because the economic relationship with the United States has deteriorated. The Canadian coal market itself remains significant. Natural Resources Canada reported that Canadian thermal-coal exports rebounded to approximately 6.9 million tonnes in 2024 after falling to around one million tonnes in 2018. Westshore, meanwhile, has been diversifying its terminal through a major potash project associated with BHP’s Jansen mine in Saskatchewan. The project is designed to eventually move as much as 4.5 million tonnes of Canadian potash annually while displacing roughly an equivalent amount of coal-export capacity.

The New Tariff Round Raises the Stakes

Eby’s intervention came only days after Canada-U.S. negotiations fell apart and Washington imposed a new wave of 50% tariffs. According to the federal government, the measures cover $27.6 billion worth of Canadian goods and took effect on August 22. Ottawa responded by announcing counter-tariffs covering an equivalent $27.6 billion of U.S. imports. Depending on the product, Canadian rates will be 15%, 25% or 50%, with the new measures scheduled to take effect September 8.

The federal response reaches beyond tariffs. Ottawa announced another $7.5 billion in new and enhanced assistance for workers and businesses, adding to nearly $25 billion in support it says has been provided since U.S. tariffs began reshaping the trading relationship. Eby called the new assistance a good start while stressing the urgency facing small and medium-sized firms. The counter-tariffs will cover products in areas such as steel, dairy, appliances, agricultural equipment, pulp and paper and electronics. His argument is that Canada should simultaneously identify assets and purchases Washington values rather than relying exclusively on taxes imposed at the border.

B.C.’s Exposure Helps Explain Eby’s Harder Line

British Columbia has unusually direct reasons to seek additional leverage. The province’s forestry sector has spent decades dealing with the softwood-lumber dispute, and Canadian producers continue to face substantial U.S. anti-dumping and countervailing duties. Current rates vary by producer, while certain lumber and wood products also face additional U.S. trade measures. Eby said B.C., Ontario and Quebec were being disproportionately affected by the wider trade confrontation, reflecting the concentration of forestry, automotive, steel, aluminum and manufacturing activity across those provinces.

The province had already modelled what a severe tariff confrontation could mean before the current escalation. In early 2025, the B.C. government estimated that across-the-board 25% U.S. tariffs could reduce provincial economic activity by a cumulative $69 billion between 2025 and 2028 and cost more than 120,000 jobs. That scenario is not a forecast of today’s exact tariff package — the measures have evolved considerably — but it illustrates why Victoria views sustained U.S. restrictions as more than a diplomatic dispute. For communities dependent on mills, ports and resource exports, trade policy can quickly become a question of shifts, paycheques and whether facilities remain open.

Walking Away From the F-35 Would Carry Costs of Its Own

Using defence procurement as trade leverage sounds powerful because the numbers are enormous, but Canada would also be putting domestic economic interests and military planning on the table. National Defence has said more than 30 Canadian companies hold F-35-related contracts. As of March 2025, the government estimated that every F-35 produced for the international program contained roughly $3.6 million worth of Canadian-made components. Canadian industry participates in a global supply chain rather than simply purchasing finished American aircraft.

Ottawa is nevertheless exploring other long-term defence relationships. On July 21, 2026, Canada became the first observer nation in the Global Combat Air Programme involving the United Kingdom, Italy and Japan. GCAP is developing a sixth-generation combat aircraft targeted for 2035, and Canadian observer status provides access to information about its technology, governance and industrial opportunities. It is not an immediate replacement for aircraft Canada expects to need years earlier, but the move shows that Ottawa is investigating ways to diversify defence partnerships. That makes Eby’s intervention especially timely, even if changing the F-35 plan would remain operationally complicated.

Carney Now Faces a Broader Question About Canadian Leverage

The debate ultimately extends beyond two products. Eby is challenging Ottawa to reconsider which advantages the United States should continue receiving from its relationship with Canada while Washington imposes barriers on Canadian industries. His proposed tools are deliberately different: fighter jets involve federal spending flowing into a U.S.-led defence program, while coal involves American exporters benefiting from access to Canadian rail and port infrastructure. Both demonstrate that economic interdependence runs in two directions.

There is no single provincial consensus on how aggressively that leverage should be used. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has urged Ottawa to return to negotiations before the new counter-tariffs take effect, warning that tariff escalation risks increasing costs. Ontario Premier Doug Ford, by contrast, has again raised the possibility of using electricity exports as leverage against Washington. Carney therefore faces competing pressures while trying to preserve national unity, protect workers and avoid damaging Canada’s own strategic interests. Eby’s intervention ensures one thing: the conversation about retaliation is no longer limited to which American goods should cost more at the Canadian border.

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