Canada’s behind I-90 billboard in Cleveland expressing disdain for Trump’s trade war
CLEVELAND, Ohio – Maybe you’ve seen one of the billboards along a highway in the Cleveland area.
They’re anti-tariff messages from Canada to Americans, telling them that the trade war started by President Trump is only going to backfire.
Several posters on social media have mentioned seeing the billboards in multiple locations around Northeast Ohio. One was spotted on Wednesday by a cleveland.com journalist along Interstate 90 east of downtown Cleveland.
Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly spelled out the ad campaign last week during an interview with CNN in which she said the tariffs will “cost more to Americans at the pump and also when they go do their groceries.”
The campaign will feature “huge billboards along the key highways in Florida, in Nevada, in Georgia, in New Hampshire, Michigan, Ohio, 12 different states, and we know very much that these states are red states,” Joly told CNN Anchor Pamela Brown. “But we’re doing that because we think that we need to send a message to the American people for them to understand what’s at stake because this is really going to hurt their livelihoods and have an impact on their wallets.”
One of the Canada-sponsored billboards was also spotted in Cincinnati with the message, “TARIFFS ARE A TAX ON YOUR GROCERY BILL,” according to fox19.com. The sign states that it was paid for by the government of Canada.
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported on a billboard that went up over the weekend that states in all caps, “TARIFFS ARE A TAX AT THE GAS PUMP.”
Joly, in the CNN interview, implored Americans to tell their elected officials that a trade war is a “no-win” situation.
“Canadians are sending a message that there are no winners in a trade war,” Joly said. “There will be job losses on both sides of the border and particularly in the U.S.”
Trump has imposed or threatened a dizzying array of tariffs on other countries since he took office, including tariffs targeted specifically on major trading partners Canada, Mexico and China.
A 25% tariff has already gone into effect on certain goods imported from Canada and Mexico, with Canadian energy and potash, a fertilizer ingredient, being hit with a 10% tariff, according to the Washington Post.
Trump has also said he will impose reciprocal tariffs on all countries on April 2.
And on Wednesday, Trump announced tariffs of 25% on cars made outside the United States, prompting Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney to call them a “direct attack” on Canadian workers. The auto tariffs are to take effect April 3.
Canada has already responded with tariffs on billions of dollars of American goods and is primed to impose more.
Peter Krouse writes about the environment for cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer. He can be reached at pkrouse@cleveland.com.