‘No stone will be left unturned’ B.C. assembles team to fight Trump tariffs

The provincial government is assembling labour and business leaders to develop a strategy to deal with Donald Trump's tariff threats.

The provincial government is assembling a group of business and labour leaders to strategize the best way to deal with looming tariffs threats from president-elect Donald Trump.

The team, which has yet to be named officially, aims to ensure Trump is aware and reminded of British Columbia’s valuable resources.

“We’re hoping that by talking about some of the ways we’re really interconnected, that we can bring them back to the table, and not have to have that harder conversation,” said Jobs and Economic Development Minister Diana Gibson.

She pointed to a chemical element called germanium, that the U.S. military uses to make night vision goggles, which is produced at a smelter in Trail.

China also produces the shiny, brittle matter, but banned exports to the United States when trade tensions between the countries escalated.

”And because China stopped exporting that mineral to the US., they’re very dependent on BC germanium,” said Gibson, adding it is by far not the only valuable commodity the province has to offer.

The minister hopes the new team can use a charm offensive with Washington at first, but if that fails, “no stone will be left unturned.”

“There isn’t anything that we’re saying isn’t on the table from BC’s perspective, because BC’s perspective is that we need to use any leverage to fight the tariffs,” Gibson told CTV News.