B.C. Premier David Eby is meeting with U.S. Ambassador to Canada Pete Hoekstra in Victoria on Tuesday afternoon.
It was Hoekstra who requested the meeting, but Eby said he plans to use the occasion to push trade-related issues that are important to B.C.
Eby said the number one issue he plans to raise with Hoekstra is softwood lumber duties.
The effective average rate for softwood lumber exported from Canada to the United States is now 45 per cent, a rate the U.S. claims is justified because Canada subsidizes its lumber industry.
Eby also plans to stress the importance of a stable trade relationship is between the two countries and ask Hoekstra to urge President Donald Trump to work with Congress to end daylight saving time on the West Coast in alignment with B.C.’s recent move.
Hoekstra raised Eby’s ire over the summer after calling Canadians “mean and nasty” to deal with on trade because of U.S. booze bans in B.C. liquor stores and Eby’s encouragement of British Columbians not to travel to the United States for vacation.
Eby responded that these comments show the province’s measures are “having an impact.”
He expects Hoekstra to raise the alcohol and travel issues in the Tuesday meeting, as well as B.C.’s direction that government ministries seek alternatives to American suppliers for new contracts.
But Eby did not commit to backing down.
“These are, in my opinion, reasonable reactions to how we’ve been treated by the Americans,” he said.
Still, Eby’s tone was far more conciliatory ahead of the meeting than it has been in the past.
“We cannot replace that trading market even as we try to diversify,” Eby said, adding, “We need to have good relations with the Americans.”
But he said this is difficult when Trump tweets about Canada becoming part of the United States, and when people in B.C. are losing jobs because of softwood lumber duties.