B.C. Premier David Eby said B.C. is prepared for tariffs the White House has confirmed are set to come into effect tomorrow.

"I can assure we are ready for the fight 香蕉视频直播� we will not roll over," he said Friday (Jan. 31). "We are working closely with the business community, with workers, with community, with First Nations leaders."

Eby's comments come after a meeting of the provincial task force responding to the 25 per cent tariffs on Canadian goods that President Donald Trump's office today confirmed will start Feb. 1. 

Details about the exact nature of the tariffs remain fluid. According to American wire service reports, Trump plans to impose 25 per cent tariffs on Canada and Mexico Feb. 1 on top of already existing tariffs. The U.S. also plans to impose 10 per tariffs on Canadian oil and gas with Feb. 18 said to be the starting date. Trump also promised tariffs on steel, aluminum and copper among other goods. The United States also plan to impose tariffs of 10 per cent on China.

Eby said government is preparing for "multiple scenarios". He added "preparing for the worst means preparing retaliatory tariffs to ensure that every inch that the president hopes to get from imposing tariffs on Canada comes at additional and significant cost to Americans, particularly in states, where (voters) have elected officials that are supporting this agenda."

He said Canada and the U.S. have been friends and allies for many years. 

"We are good partners with the United States, but if the president decides to start this fight, we will have to hit back...so we are prepared for that." 

Trump said the tariffs are not a negotiating tool but rather a response to Canada failing to prevent fentanyl from entering the United States and its large trade surplus with the United States.  

"We are not looking for a concession 香蕉视频直播� we will see what happens," Trump said.

Eby said it is 香蕉视频直播渞egrettable香蕉视频直播� Trump would be saying that, because he has "also said things that are completely at odds with that."

Eby added that he is supporting efforts by the federal government to avoid the tariffs.

"He (Trump) is concerned about border, he is concerned about fentanyl," Eby said. "These are understandable things that we can work together to address. It does not just justify these tariffs and I think that we can come to agreements with the United States on things that are priorities of the president."

He said tariffs will hurt families on "both sides of the border for no apparent reason." 

While Feb. 1 had first emerged as a potential starting date for tariffs shortly after Trump assumed office, their exact nature did not fully emerge until Friday morning, early afternoon. "(We) have had a morning of chaos and confusion in terms of trying to understand what is happening at the White House," Eby said. "It's hard not to think that this uncertainty being sent from the White House, the chaos that seems to be coming from there, is actually part of an overall strategy to destabilize key trading partners in Canada and in Mexico as well as send a message to other countries." 

Trump, however, said tariffs "don't cause inflation, they cause success." He acknowledged that there could be "some temporary, short-term disruption" but predicted "that people will understand." 

Conservative Party of B.C. John Rustad said this is "going to be a very disastrous scenario for our workers, for families and communities in British Columbia and Canada."

Rustad reiterated his demand that B.C. follow other provinces who are investing their own resources into border security.

"From my perspective, we should be doing this anyway, regardless of whatever Trump wants," Rustad said. "This is about protecting Canadians and British Columbians ... it's time that we stopped being lackadaisical about this and actually start doing some work there."

He added that such a move could help in the trade dispute.

Rustad also repeated calls to create a Canada-wide free-trade agreement among Canadian provinces while significantly accelerating resource developments in British Columbia.

"We are in a crisis, and it is not because of Trump, although Trump is exacerbating it ... we have a fiscal problem," Rustad said. "We need to bypass all of this bureaucracy and cost structure that we have put in place and get mines open."

He called for the quick green-lighting of 17 mines awaiting approval. He also called for regulatory extensions on natural gas pipelines and natural gas power generation in B.C.'s Northwest.

"It's time we stop mucking around with all this stupid policy approaches we have been doing and get down to get our economy going, so that we can deal with this crisis."

Eby has previously promised to ease the regulatory burden and speed up permitting in areas such as mining, along with trade diversification. Rustad rejected the argument that government broadly wants to do the same thing, accusing Eby of exacerbating the regulatory burden.

"He needs to get bureaucracy out of the way," Rustad said. "He (Eby) needs to strip this thing down to the basics." 

Rustad added that  Eby should immediately recall the legislature, so it can pass "emergency legislation" to get resources projects off the ground.

"We need to treat this as an emergency."