Welcome to Tariff Tuesday. It will be followed by Whacko Wednesday, Thug Thursday, and Fouled-up Friday (or insert your own F-word for the last one).

The much-ballyhooed trade war with the U.S. has officially begun. So what can we expect here in the Elk Valley?

The good news is that our largest export and main economic driver, coal, goes west, not south. The tariffs will not have a direct impact on the coal mines in the valley. However, indirect effects; such as increased costs for fuel, parts, and machinery; will undoubtedly drive up costs for the mines.

Our second largest economic driver, tourism, should also be well-positioned to deal with the impact. While we attract tourists from everywhere, the vast majority come from Alberta and should still want to play here – winter and summer. That is, of course, unless their jobs in Alberta are affected, which is a possibility.

The Canadian dollar is still low against the U.S. dollar, so U.S. tourists may still think coming up across the line is a good getaway … other than the glares in the parking lot when we see their licence plates.

Another direct impact that we could see on streets is the reduction, or elimination, of the cattle liners that roll through down seemingly every 15 minutes en route from Alberta ranches to processing near Spokane. If you’ve ever been caught behind one at a stoplight and had to roll up your windows because of the smell, you might think that’s not a bad result. You will, of course, rethink that when a Big Mac costs $20 or you get tired of barbecuing chicken rather than steak.

Which brings us to the other big impact … grocery and retail stores. We have all been playing the ‘buy Canadian’ or, more aptly ‘don’t buy American’ game when it comes to food. And that’s a good thing. However, tariff impacts on everyday goods are inevitable.

Fuel prices will certainly increase, as they always do when something happens. That will drive up the cost of goods getting to our stores, regardless of where they are manufactured.

So, what can we do (other than beak off on Facebook while it feverishly sucks Canadian dollars south)? We can continue our buy Canadian movement. Stop buying goods from the U.S.; stop the trips down to Eureka cheap beer and steak; support our local stores (the Local Store is good store for local produce); support our provincial and federal efforts to combat this unwarranted U.S. aggression.

As for our federal efforts, which has been to slap our own tariffs on U.S. goods coming north, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, a two- or three-per cent reduction in the GST will help us all as we likely face a recession.

Most importantly, we have to stick together as Canadians. We can’t fight an external threat if we’re facing internal ones too.

Born and raised in Fernie, Bill Phillips is an award-winning journalist and columnist. He was the winner of the 2009 Best Editorial award at the British Columbia/Yukon Community Newspaper Association’s Ma Murray awards, in 2007 he won the association’s Best Columnist award. In 2004, he placed third in the Canadian Community Newspaper best columnist category and, in 2003, placed second.