British Columbia Premier David Eby says he is standing firm behind the legislation granting the province the ability to levy new fees on U.S. commercial trucks heading to Alaska, despite political threats involving the cruise ship sector from an Alaskan senator.
Eby says in response to comments made by U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan that the Canadian side knows “the consequences for Alaskans are a big deal” if any truck fees are imposed, and he expects Alaska to “respond in kind” if that were to happen.
But the premier says while B.C. would not make the decision to impose truck fees lightly, he is urging Alaska’s elected Republicans to speak to U.S. President Donald Trump about the tariff threats if they are worried about a backlash from the Canadian side.
Eby’s comments come after Sullivan posted on his Facebook page his March 7 appearance on a radio show, where he called Canadian countermeasures to U.S. tariffs “a bit of a dangerous game,” and broached the idea of passing a law or getting an executive order to allow cruise ships to skip B.C. ports on Alaskan cruises.
B.C.’s government announced on Thursday a bill that would give cabinet broad-reaching emergency powers to respond to sudden, unexpected economic threats and tariffs from the Trump White House.
Eby had said the bill would also provide B.C. with the ability to levy fees on U.S. trucks travelling through the province to Alaska.
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“I understand that Alaskans might feel anxious about the idea of an additional charge on trucks going from Washington state to Alaska,” Eby says in response to Sullivan’s comments. “But we need Alaskans to send a message to Donald Trump about how intertwined we are, about the connections between our economies.
“We don’t want to use this tool. We like Alaskans. We think they’re great. We like Americans. We think they’re great. They’ve just got a lousy president.”
Sullivan said in his radio show appearance that preventing cruise ships from stopping in B.C. ports would cost Western Canada billions of dollars in tourism revenue.
“Two can play this game.”
“Canada, you don’t want to mess with Alaska. And if you do, we are going to work hard on having our cruise ships bypass your ports, and that will help our economy tremendously,” Sullivan said. “They’re playing a dangerous game here, and I hope they back down.”
Eby says the response from Alaska to possible truck charges isn’t unexpected.
“Trade wars only hurt people,” he says. “They don’t benefit anybody. This is our message to Donald Trump. It’s our message to all Americans. We don’t want this fight. We didn’t sign up for it, but that doesn’t mean we’re not going to arm ourselves.”
