The Canadian province of British Columbia unveiled new border signs on Tuesday that took aim at the Trump administration in the midst of the ongoing U.S.-Canada trade war and President Trump’s threats that Canada could become the 51st state.
“Welcome to British Columbia, Canada,” the signs read. “Strong, proud, and will NEVER be the 51st state. Sorry!”
The signs were revealed the same day that tariffs on $20 billion worth of U.S. imports took effect.
“This is a uniquely Canadian message, confident, good humor and it’s unmistakably clear,” B.C. Premier David Eby said on Tuesday at an unveiling event. “British Columbia is part of Canada, and Canada is not for sale.”
With little apparent progress in negotiations, the U.S.-Canada trade was has increasingly played out in the language of memes, political gestures and media stunts.
open image in galleryLast month, President Trump renamed Lake Ontario to Lake America, and he later shared apparently AI-generated videos of himself knocking over a Lake Ontario sign and heavily armed “Donald Ducks” patrolling the shores.
During a weekend posting spree, the president also shared an image of the U.S. flag covering all of North America and a comic-style image of himself as a hockey player aggressively confronting Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney.
Canadian leaders have responded with their own gestures.
After President Trump’s Lake America order, Ontario Premier Doug Ford responded by unveiling a giant billboard along the Canadian shore bearing the message “Lake Ontario. Now and Always.”
Carney has called on the U.S. to “stop doing memes.”
open image in gallery“When the Americans stop doing memes, stop throwing shade and stop trying to be tough, and start being serious about having those discussions, we can have those discussions,” he said last week. “It’s not constructive, but that’s their democracy.”
The trade war has only ratcheted up, though.
The same day Canada’s counter-tariffs took effect, the Trump administration moved to shut Canada out of certain U.S. government contracts and ban the importation of various Canadian dairy products, alcoholic beverages and motorcycles.
“When the US is ready to engage, our government will work in good faith and constructively towards a more secure mutually beneficial trading relationship that fully respects Canadian sovereignty,” Dominic LeBlanc, the Canadian minister in charge of Canada-U.S. trade, wrote on X on Tuesday.
The tariff war is expected to have an extra impact on states near the U.S.-Canada border such as the Dakotas, Maine, Idaho and Montana, hitting industries ranging from tourism to oil, agriculture and auto manufacturing.