VICTORIA — John Rustad has responded to the Trump tariffs, making it clear he is "dead opposed" to the president's economic attack on Canada.The BC Conservative leader said the province must retaliate, though he warned that it must be done in a strategic way."I am dead opposed to these tariffs and what Donald Trump is doing," Rustad told the Western Standard. "The damage that is going to do to Canadian families and to British Columbia is very significant, and we do need to fight back against that."He made it clear that above all, British Columbia needs to "get our economy going" and diversify trade, but that, "while we're doing this, we need to be strategic in terms of how we push back against Trump and these tariffs because the damage he's doing is unacceptable to me."Rustad cast doubt on Premier David Eby's claim that it was now clear that Trump's tariffs were never about fentanyl or the border, calling it an "excuse.""The bottom line is, what has David Eby done since that threat came in in British Columbia? Nothing. He hasn't put any more money to the police, he hasn't had anything refocused on the gangs and the organized crime that is producing fentanyl in British Columbia. He has done nothing to protect our ports. He has done nothing on this thing. He's talked about changing his safe supply thing and that hasn't even happened yet.""Most other provinces, they've sent provincial folks to the border to help secure it. What did David Eby do? Zero. He's done absolutely nothing to actually counter the Americans other than wanting to use them as an excuse for eight years.".UPDATED: Eby responds to Trump tariffs with retaliatory measures targeting 'red states'.While outlining the province's response to Trump's tariffs earlier Tuesday, Eby claimed that "Canada and all of the provinces had worked together to respond to the president's demands," adding, "I would say without doubt that the president's demands were met."When asked whether he believed there was anything Canada or British Columbia could do to get the United States to back off, Rustad pointed out that it's impossible to know what the president is thinking."I have no idea the mind of Donald Trump," he said. "I do know how he likes to negotiate. He likes to bluster; he likes to bring in stuff like this to force a hand for negotiation. We need to be able to be strong and we need to make sure we look after British Columbians."Rustad emphasized that regardless of what Trump says or does, "we should be doing this for British Columbians.""We should be doing this to protect our borders, to actually stop the flow of fentanyl, to save lives in British Columbia," he said. "These are the right things to do, and if Donald Trump still wants to go off on his rant and his rampage then we gotta react to that."In his response, Eby vowed to ramp up economic activity in British Columbia, and declared that retaliatory measures would kick in immediately. He said the government would stop selling liquor from "red states" to send a message to those who put Trump in power, and prioritize buying Canadian first.
