The Canadian government is paying for anti-tariff billboards in American cities as the relationship between the two countries continues to deteriorate.
Billboards that are part of what Canadian officials have described as an “educational campaign” have popped up in Detroit and elsewhere, declaring, “Tariffs are a tax on your grocery bill.” Global Affairs Canada spokesperson John Babcock told CBS News Detroit on Thursday that the billboards have gone up in Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. Billboards have also been placed in Washington, D.C., and surrounding areas.
“The Government of Canada has launched an educational campaign to inform Americans of the economic impacts of tariffs. The campaign is a strategic investment in Canada’s long-term economic interests and its trade relationship with the United States,” said Babcock.
“Tariffs are a tax on hard-working Americans in their daily lives,” he added. “They lead to increased costs on everyday essentials, including fuel and groceries. The purpose is to increase the understanding of the American public and to counter misinformation.”
After President Donald Trump imposed tariffs on Canada, the United States’ northern neighbor responded with tariffs of its own. Trump put forward tariffs of 25 percent on all steel and aluminum imports, to which Canada responded with $21 billion in retaliatory tariffs. Trump subsequently retracted a proposal to raise the tariffs to 50 percent.
Earlier in March, the Canadian province of Ontario announced that it was putting in place a 25 percent surcharge on all electricity exports to the U.S. That proposal, which would have affected customers and businesses in Minnesota, New York, and Michigan, was also retracted by Ontario Premier Doug Ford as the Trump administration backed off its proposal to double tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum.
On Wednesday, Trump put in place 25 percent tariffs on vehicles and auto parts imported into the U.S., which will likely further hamper relations with top U.S. allies and trading partners such as Canada, Japan, Mexico, South Korea, and European countries such as Germany.
Half of all cars sold in the U.S. are made in the country, while about half of all imports originate from Mexico and Canada, with other top suppliers being Japan, South Korea, and Germany.
The president of the United Auto Workers union, Shawn Fain, celebrated the tariffs on cars made outside the U.S., saying that the White House was “stepping up to end the free trade disaster that has devastated working-class communities for decades.”
This comes as Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has said that the “old relationship” with the U.S. has come to an end.
“The old relationship we had with the United States, based on deepening integration of our economies and tight security and military cooperation, is over,” said Carney during a press conference.
Carney’s comments came after a meeting in the Canadian capital of Ottawa with his ministers to discuss how to respond to Trump’s auto tariffs.
“What exactly the United States does next is unclear, but … what is clear is that we as Canadians have agency. We have power. We are masters in our own home,” said the prime minister. “We can control our destiny. We can give ourselves much more than any foreign government, including the United States, can ever take away. We can deal with this crisis best by building our own strength right here at home.”
Carney went on to argue that “We will need to dramatically reduce our reliance on the United States. We will need to pivot our trade relationships elsewhere. And we will need to do things previously thought impossible at speeds we haven’t seen in generations.”
