Eby Backs Ottawa’s Trump Tariffs and Invokes Canada’s 9/11 Help for Americans

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At one of the tensest moments in Canada-U.S. relations in decades, British Columbia Premier David Eby reached back to one of the relationship’s most powerful memories. Speaking in Victoria on September 8 as Ottawa’s new counter-tariffs on American goods took effect, Eby invoked Canada’s response to the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, arguing that Canadians would still help Americans in a crisis despite the escalating trade conflict.

His message drew a deliberate distinction between friendship and submission. Canada can remain compassionate toward its closest neighbour, Eby argued, while resisting tariffs, economic pressure and threats to its sovereignty. For British Columbia, where thousands of livelihoods remain connected to U.S. customers and supply chains, that distinction is becoming much more than political rhetoric.

Eby Draws a Line Between Kindness and Weakness

Eby used unusually emotional language as he defended Ottawa’s decision to retaliate against U.S. tariffs. Speaking at an event in Victoria with Canadian flags visible behind him, the premier described Canadians as kind, loyal and compassionate, but insisted those qualities should never be interpreted as weakness. He acknowledged that working families on both sides of the border would suffer as tariffs make trade more expensive, disrupt business relationships and encourage companies to look for alternative suppliers. His underlying argument was that Canada did not seek the confrontation but cannot simply absorb escalating U.S. measures without responding.

That framing matters because provincial leaders must deal with the consequences much closer to the ground. A tariff that looks like a percentage in an Ottawa announcement can translate into a cancelled order at a factory, fewer shifts at a mill or a smaller margin for a family-owned exporter. Eby said defending Canadian workers, businesses and the economy had become a responsibility rather than an optional political gesture. His support therefore placed British Columbia firmly behind the federal strategy even while acknowledging that retaliation itself carries costs.

Why the 9/11 Memory Still Carries So Much Weight

Eby’s decision to invoke September 11 came just days before the 25th anniversary of the attacks. The historical comparison is rooted in an extraordinary Canadian emergency response. When the United States closed its airspace on September 11, 2001, Canada activated what became known as Operation Yellow Ribbon. Hundreds of aircraft were diverted, and more than 33,000 displaced passengers were handled through Canadian airports as communities suddenly found themselves responsible for thousands of stranded travellers with nowhere to go.

Gander, Newfoundland and Labrador, became the best-known example. Thirty-eight diverted flights brought more than 6,500 passengers and crew into a community of roughly 10,000 people. Schools, churches, community halls and homes became temporary shelters. Residents supplied meals, clothing, transportation, medicine and other necessities. British Columbia also remembered the response in later official commemorations, including the assistance Canadians gave stranded U.S.-bound travellers and the support Canadian first responders provided after the attacks. For Eby, that history illustrated a friendship deeper than whichever government happens to occupy the White House.

Ottawa’s New Counter-Tariffs Put Real Money Behind the Response

Canada’s latest response went into effect at 12:01 a.m. on September 8. Ottawa imposed tariffs of 15%, 25% and 50% on selected American products representing $27.6 billion in U.S. imports. The federal government designed the measures to correspond broadly with tariffs imposed by Washington, describing the policy as a dollar-for-dollar response to the latest American action. Among the targeted sectors are steel, dairy products, appliances, agricultural equipment, pulp and paper, plastics and electronics. Existing counter-tariffs on some products, including U.S. automobiles, also remain in place.

The percentages can quickly become tangible for businesses. Consider a Canadian company that normally imports a $100,000 shipment of tariff-covered American equipment. A 25% surtax can add $25,000 to its border cost before other expenses are considered. The company then has several choices: absorb part of the increase, raise prices, delay the purchase or find another supplier. Ottawa is betting that precisely this pressure will encourage substitution toward Canadian or non-U.S. products while creating political and commercial pressure south of the border.

B.C. Has More at Stake Than Political Symbolism

British Columbia is somewhat less dependent on the American market than several other large Canadian provinces, but that does not make it insulated. Provincial data show that 52.8% of B.C.’s goods exports went to the United States in 2024. That was substantially below Alberta’s roughly 88% and the combined Ontario-Quebec average of 76.1%, reflecting B.C.’s stronger trading connections with Asian markets. The diversification gives the province more room to manoeuvre, but more than half of merchandise exports going to one country still represents significant exposure when that relationship deteriorates.

Forestry illustrates the vulnerability particularly clearly. About 74.8% of B.C.’s softwood lumber exports went to the United States in 2024. For a forestry town, therefore, the dispute is not an abstract argument about trade law. It can affect mill production, trucking work, contractors and the businesses that depend on workers’ paycheques. On the import side, U.S. goods represented 34.5% of B.C.’s incoming trade, including machinery, agricultural goods, food and energy products. Counter-tariffs can consequently create costs even while serving as economic leverage.

Buying Canadian Is Becoming Part of B.C.’s Trade Strategy

Eby paired his support for tariffs with a much simpler request: whenever practical, spend money closer to home. He encouraged British Columbians to choose Canadian products and local services, extending the idea beyond grocery shelves to decisions such as hiring a local professional or supplier. His government also plans to relaunch and broaden the Buy BC program. The economic theory is straightforward. If tariffs make American goods more expensive while consumers redirect some spending toward Canadian alternatives, part of the demand lost through weaker exports can potentially be recaptured inside the domestic economy.

British Columbia has already used provincial purchasing power in a much more visible way. The government continues to keep American alcohol out of provincially operated BCLIQUOR stores, building on a policy first expanded in March 2025 when the province ordered American beer, wine, spirits and refreshment beverages removed from shelves and halted further purchases. Such measures are partly symbolic, but they also redirect shelf space and purchasing toward Canadian producers. For a B.C. winery or distiller competing with a major American brand, even a modest shift in consumer spending can matter.

‘Never the 51st State’ Turns the Trade Fight Into a Sovereignty Message

Eby also unveiled new border signage carrying a much less technical message than a tariff schedule: “Welcome to British Columbia, Canada. Strong, proud, and will NEVER be the 51st state. Sorry!” The signs are intended for B.C.-U.S. border crossings and respond directly to repeated rhetoric from Trump about Canada becoming part of the United States. Eby described the wording as confident and humorous but unmistakable about where British Columbia stands. Another version of the message condensed the sentiment to a simple equation: Canadian kindness should not be confused with weakness.

Signs do not lower tariffs or restore disrupted export orders, but they reveal how far the dispute has moved beyond a conventional commercial disagreement. Previous Canada-U.S. trade battles have typically focused on products such as lumber, dairy or automobiles. The current confrontation has also touched questions of sovereignty and national identity. That helps explain why Eby could move in the same speech from recalling Canada’s humanitarian response to 9/11 to endorsing retaliation against Washington. In his framing, both positions come from the same principle: a neighbour can be a friend without surrendering its independence.

Federal Aid Gives B.C. Businesses Something More Concrete Than Rhetoric

September 8 also brought a potentially important development for B.C. companies struggling with the financial consequences of the trade fight. Ottawa announced that eligible businesses in British Columbia could apply for expanded assistance through the Regional Tariff Response Initiative, administered in the province by PacifiCan. Qualified businesses can receive as much as $3 million in combined non-repayable assistance—up to $2 million for liquidity needs and up to $1 million for projects designed to help the company pivot or adapt. The broader national initiative is being delivered through regional development agencies.

That distinction between liquidity and adaptation is significant. A business losing orders because of a sudden tariff may need immediate cash simply to cover payroll, inventory or supplier obligations. Another company may have enough cash to survive but need money to redesign a product, automate production or enter European and Asian markets. Ottawa’s broader tariff-response package includes billions of dollars in new and enhanced assistance for workers and businesses. Eby said his government was working with Ottawa to support companies hit by the dispute, giving his endorsement of federal retaliation a parallel message: governments imposing defensive measures also have an obligation to help absorb the fallout.

Canada-U.S. Friendship Is Being Tested in Real Time

Any hope that September 8 would mark the high point of the escalation faded quickly. Later Tuesday, the Trump administration announced additional action in response to Canada’s retaliation, including import bans affecting certain Canadian alcohol, dairy and motor-vehicle-related products. The White House said the bans would take effect September 29, while other additions and removals from U.S. tariff lists were scheduled for September 15. Washington described the measures as a response to what it considers discriminatory Canadian trade policies. Canada, in turn, maintains that its measures are a proportionate response to American tariffs.

The economic relationship remains too large for either side to escape the consequences easily. Statistics Canada reported that 71.7% of Canadian merchandise exports still went to the United States in 2025, although that was down from 75.9% a year earlier as exports to other markets expanded. That is what gives Eby’s 9/11 reference its broader meaning. His argument is not that Canada should stop viewing Americans as friends. It is that friendship cannot require economic deference. Twenty-five years after Canadians welcomed stranded travellers during an American catastrophe, Eby is presenting solidarity and resistance as values that can exist at the same time.

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