B.C. Premier David Eby leaving for trade mission in Asia Saturday

British Columbia’s premier is heading off for a 10-day trade mission in Asia Saturday, with the goal of establishing new trade agreements with international buyers.

The trip comes as the province looks to diversify its markets while the trade war with the United States continues to cause uncertainty across the globe.

David Eby is heading to Japan, South Korea, and Malaysia with Minister of Agriculture Lana Popham and Parliamentary Secretary Paul Choi.

“We’re under attack by the president of our largest trading partner; our relationship with overseas markets — the opportunity to expand those markets and diversify markets away from the United States — is more important than ever, and that’s what we’re going to do,” Eby said earlier this month.

He said the province’s food, lumber, wood products, critical metals and minerals, and LNG are in high demand around the world, so B.C. can be “the engine of the new Canada that is more independent, that is less reliant on the United States, and that faces us boldly and confidently to the entire world, and we’re excited about playing that role here.”

The provincial government says the Indo-Pacific is the fastest-growing economic region in the world, expected to make up over half of the global economy by 2040. In 2024, more than 41 per cent of B.C.’s exports — worth more than $22 billion — went to those markets. Japan and South Korea are the province’s third- and fourth-largest trading partners, respectively.

Eby says the mission was booked before the first ministers meeting with Prime Minister Mark Carney, set to take place Monday, was scheduled. Deputy Premier and Attorney General Niki Sharma will attend the meeting instead. In a letter to Carney dated May 1, Eby says there are four “priority areas” requiring a closer partnership between B.C. and the federal government: softwood lumber, streamlining rail and trade corridors, clean energy and critical minerals, and affordability and homelessness.

The trade mission is set to wrap up June 10.

— With files from Charles Brockman and The Canadian Press.