Amid tariff turmoil, where do things stand with Washington state's neighbor to the north?

It's been a week in United States trade relations news. Stock markets here and around the world continued to slide Friday, after China retaliated against President Trump's far-reaching tariffs announced Wednesday. It’s the biggest stock market plunge in at least five years.

To the north, Canadians were spared new tariffs, but they still face hefty ones that were previously announced. Journalist Michelle Eliot spoke to KUOW’s Kim Malcolm about how Canadians are navigating this roller coaster. Eliot hosts the CBC weekday call-in program BC Today.

This interview has been edited for clarity.

Kim Malcolm: Let's start with the Wednesday announcement by President Trump of the global tariffs. You and others have reported that Canada was spared additional tariffs, but you're still facing 25% tariffs on most goods that were set early last month. Based on what you're hearing, how spared are Canadians feeling right now?

Michelle Eliot: It's almost like the Canadians will take anything they can get. What I heard from both Prime Minister Mark Carney and BC Premier David Eby was this cautious optimism that yes, for this round, Canadians and Mexicans were not on the list, that long list of reciprocal tariffs, but three other sets of tariffs remain. So yes, the 25% tariffs on most goods that are linked to the fentanyl crisis, the auto tariffs kicked in as of yesterday, and the steel and aluminum tariffs as well. What both leaders said was that they're going to stay the course when it comes to trying to fight the tariffs, and things could still change on the drop of a dime.

Speaking of the auto tariffs, Prime Minister Mark Carney announced yesterday he's going to match the ones that are coming from the United States, and he said he took those steps reluctantly:

“In a crisis, it's important to come together, and it's essential to act with purpose and with force, and that's what we will do.”

How are Carney's actions landing with people there?

Since any countermeasures have been announced that involve matching tariffs--this was the approach of the former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau-- there have been concerns about these countermeasures, saying that tariffs then would affect us here as consumers, and our prices will go up. I think people are still digesting what these 25% matching tariffs for autos will look like, or what impact they will have on prices. I've heard many different experts and people in the industry. I think people are still digesting right now what these matching auto tariffs from Canada will actually mean.

Speaking yesterday, your Premier David Eby brought up, again, the proposal to add fees onto commercial trucks that are traveling from Washington through British Columbia up to Alaska, and he said, again reluctantly, that this might have to happen in order to send a message to President Trump:

“If you don't have the tools to respond to a bully, if you don't stand up to the bully, then the bully only comes back for more.”

The premier did acknowledge that not everyone supports these new fees. What's the status there of that idea?

So, this is one part of a broader bill to respond to the tariffs. It came out of some really tough talk from the premier a couple of months ago, which included a bunch of things. One was this fairly controversial measure, which was to be able to push through any tariff response without having to go through a vote in the legislature. The BC government walked that back last week, because it was being criticized for giving the government too much power. That bill, the new iteration of it, is still moving through the Legislature, so we'll see what the opposition parties do decide.

On top of all of this, this week the Seattle Kraken, who are out of contention for the NHL playoffs, went and beat the Vancouver Canucks 5-0 on Wednesday. I mean, the hits just keep on coming. I know it's sports. I'm not supposed to say sorry, but I don't feel great about that.

No? Go ahead. Go ahead and celebrate! I mean, you can brag. You can boast. We're gonna have to sort out how we feel about sports. I know there are passions there, but we're gonna have to separate them.

Listen to the interview by clicking the play button above.