B.C. premier hints at ban on export of rare minerals to U.S. over Trump tariff threats

B.C. Premier David Eby hinted B.C. could slap an export ban on critical minerals produced in the province Tuesday if U.S. president-elect Donald Trump goes ahead with his proposed tariffs.

In a prepared speech to the B.C. Natural Resources Forum in Prince George Tuesday evening, Eby said the province is working on a strategy to fight the 25 per cent tariffs on Canadian goods proposed by Trump.

The U.S. president-elect is threatening to impose tariffs on Canada when he comes to power in response to what he says is an inability to tackle illegal immigration and drug smuggling across the Canada-U.S. border.

As Canada mulls a potential counteroffensive, Eby told the forum that retaliatory tariffs and export bans were on the table as he heads into meetings with U.S. officials.

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With just one week until Donald Trump is inaugurated as U.S. president, the threat of tariffs still looms. As Katie DeRosa reports, some premiers are taking a one-on-one approach to negotiating with Trump, which others fear could leave B.C. behind.

"The goal of all of this is just to deliver a very straightforward message," he said. "We provide what helps the American economy go and vice versa. We benefit from each other's work."

In particular, he provided the example of a smelter operation located in Trail, B.C., which exports minerals that Eby said were critical for night vision goggles and electronic devices.

"If the United States doesn't get this metal from the Teck smelter in Trail, it's not available at all," Eby told the forum.

Teck Resources, which operates the smelter, says it produces refined zinc and lead, specialty metals, chemicals and fertilizer products. Trail is located around 400 kilometres east of Vancouver in the Kootenays.

Eby's threatened export ban comes as other premiers have also announced their responses to the proposed U.S. tariff threat.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford has threatened to cut electricity exports to the U.S., something that Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has balked at, urging a national response.

Canada's premiers are set to meet on Wednesday in Ottawa to talk about a unified response to the tariffs.

Eby is part of a group, including other premiers, travelling to Washington, D.C. in February on a trade mission. He told the forum he is talking to the governors of Washington state, Oregon and Colorado about the tariffs.

"We will always be a partner and ally to the United States," he said. "But we are also a proud and independent country. "And while we are proud of our products and they are absolutely for sale, this country is not for sale."

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Jeff Meyers — a criminology instructor at Kwantlen Polytechnic University with a PhD in constitutional law and theory from the London School of Economics — says the different responses from Canada's premiers go to show how vulnerable Canada is to U.S. president-elect Donald Trump's tariff threats. B.C. Premier David Eby is calling for export bans on crucial minerals from B.C. — an approach that Meyers tells BC Today host Michelle Eliot is more effective.

Michael Goehring, the president of the Mining Association of B.C., told CBC News that there were 17 critical mineral mining projects on the horizon in the province, representing $32 billion in potential investment.

"In British Columbia alone, we have or produce 16 of the 50 critical minerals that the United States has identified as being critical to their economy and their national security," he said.

Goehring said B.C.'s mineral sector had become even more important to the U.S. after China curtailed exports of six key minerals.

"What we really need right now at the national level is strong, strategic national leadership that will engage our friends in the United States and ensure that they understand that tariffs on Canada will hurt Americans," he said.

"We want to avoid this and we want to avoid a trade war."

Expediting northern power line project 

Eby also announced Tuesday that his government will introduce legislative changes in order to speed up permitting for a 450-kilometre power line project in northern B.C.

The North Coast Transmission Line project between Terrace and Prince George comes as liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects in the area are coming online.

B.C. Hydro, the provincial utility, said it needs new energy infrastructure to keep up with the demand, with the current 500-kilovolt transmission insufficient for the area's power requirements.

The premier said the province will move to allow the B.C. Energy Regulator to expedite permitting for the project.

The exact route of the transmission project has yet to be determined, with the province saying it's working with local First Nations on potential co-ownership of the lines.