B.C. Premier David Eby faced the media on Thursday morning ahead of the Easter long weekend and answered some questions about U.S. travel.
Earlier this week, California Governor Gavin Newsom urged Canadians to come back to visit the state, as many American tourist destinations are seeing a significant drop in Canadian travellers.
Eby suggested that specific actions from British Columbians, including pausing travel plans to the States, are forcing U.S. President Donald Trump’s hand and causing him to back off on some of his tariff-related measures.
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In response to a question from a reporter about Newsom’s plea to Canadians, Eby said that despite Newsom being a great ally to Canada and British Columbia in this fight against Trump’s administration, “We’re not ready to go to the States.”
“Recently, he shared with me that they would be launching litigation against the tariffs and that they have a war chest to challenge the Trump administration in the courts,” Eby shared.
Eby expressed his thoughts on the difficulty of the situation, adding that Newsom and the State of California are major economic partners to British Columbia.
“We’ll find ways to connect and support each other as people across the border who are disgusted by what the president is doing.”
The premier cancelled a trip to California last month, when he and his family were supposed to travel to Disneyland.
“At the end of the day, for British Columbians, for myself, we’re not ready to go to the States and provide that support to the States when the president is attacking families here.”
Eby said that some of the actions taken by British Columbians have a tangible effect, including Trump’s reversal of some tariffs.
“It’s the thing that we can do that sends a message, in terms of the groceries we buy, where we vacation, how we spend our time and our money, is the way that we’re able to send a message to the Trump administration.”
The premier added that flights to the States have “dropped off a cliff.” However, he cautioned that we’re not nearly out of the woods yet.
“We have to keep the pressure up. We cannot stop right now, because we know that as soon as we ease up on the pressure, the president will go back to his preferred tactics of attacking us. And by the way, we are currently under attack. Even though the reciprocal tariffs have been removed by the president or put on a 90-day hold, we are still uniquely in Canada facing the softwood attack, the auto parts attack, and the steel and aluminum tariff attack.”