Canada-funded billboards warn Central Florida: 'Tariffs are a tax'

Skyler Swisher, Orlando Sentinel on Mar 31, 2025

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WINTER SPRINGS, Fla. — Canada is taking its fight against President Donald Trump’s tariffs to Florida’s highways.

Billboards paid for by the Canadian government are popping up across the Sunshine State, including one near a 7-Eleven gas station in Winter Springs.

Canada’s message to U.S. voters: “Tariffs are a tax on hardworking Americans.”

The campaign was launched to heighten the American public’s understanding of tariffs, said John Babcock, a spokesman for Global Affairs Canada.

“They lead to increased costs on everyday essentials, including fuel and groceries,” he said.

That message resonated with James Curtis, who was filling up his truck Friday as a digital billboard flashed Canada’s anti-tariff slogans at the intersection of U.S. Highway 17-92 and Raven Avenue in Seminole County.

Curtis said his pool cleaning and repair business is facing price hikes for equipment, chemicals and other supplies. By summer, it could mean his customers will see their bills rise by about $10 a month.

He said he doesn’t see how tariffs will lower his supply costs. The Pool & Hot Tub Alliance, a trade group, warns newly imposed tariffs on steel, aluminum and other goods will have a “significant and direct impact” on the industry.

“I’m not against the Canadian people,” said Curtis, who owns Winter Springs-based SeeBlu Pool Services. “Now, it’s a tariff war. We put tariffs. They put tariffs.”

The billboards aren’t being warmly received by all Floridians. Some social media users panned the campaign, slamming the ads as “propagandist” billboards.

“Why are foreign governments allowed to create disunion in this country? Trash those signs immediately,” one Facebook user wrote.

Trump is promising to usher Americans into a “Golden Age,” but he isn’t ruling out some short-term economic discomfort. “Will there be some pain? Yes, maybe (and maybe not!). But we will make America great again, and it will all be worth the price that must be paid,” he wrote in a Truth Social post last month.

Babcock did not reveal the number of billboards or the cost of the ad campaign, which is mostly targeting Republican-leaning and battleground states. Billboards have been placed in a dozen states, including Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

Mélanie Joly, Canada’s foreign minister, said the campaign’s goal is to persuade Americans to contact their representatives and senators and tell them that they don’t want tariffs. Other billboard messages include “tariffs are a tax on your grocery bill” and “tariffs are a tax at the gas pump.”

“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,” she told CNN in an interview.

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