diff --git a/mrjob/emr.py b/mrjob/emr.py
index 143edf436..3a9c584ee 100644
--- a/mrjob/emr.py
+++ b/mrjob/emr.py
@@ -1121,6 +1121,7 @@ def _create_cluster(self, persistent=False):
         emr_client = self.make_emr_client()
 
         kwargs = self._cluster_kwargs(persistent)
+        kwargs["Tags"] = self._build_tags()
         log.debug('Calling run_job_flow(%s)' % (
             ', '.join('%s=%r' % (k, v)
                       for k, v in sorted(kwargs.items()))))
@@ -1128,6 +1129,13 @@ def _create_cluster(self, persistent=False):
 
         log.info('Created new cluster %s' % cluster_id)
 
+        return cluster_id
+
+    def _build_tags(self):
+        """
+        Build tags to be set on cluster creation
+        """
+
         # set EMR tags for the cluster
         tags = dict(self._opts['tags'])
 
@@ -1143,25 +1151,7 @@ def _create_cluster(self, persistent=False):
             tags['__mrjob_pool_hash'] = self._pool_hash()
             tags['__mrjob_pool_name'] = self._opts['pool_name']
 
-        self._add_tags(tags, cluster_id)
-
-        return cluster_id
-
-    def _add_tags(self, tags, cluster_id):
-        """Add tags in the dict *tags* to cluster *cluster_id*. Do nothing
-        if *tags* is empty or ``None``"""
-        if not tags:
-            return
-
-        tags_items = sorted(tags.items())
-
-        self.make_emr_client().add_tags(
-            ResourceId=cluster_id,
-            Tags=[dict(Key=k, Value=v) for k, v in tags_items])
-
-        log.info('Added EMR tags to cluster %s: %s' % (
-            cluster_id,
-            ', '.join('%s=%s' % (tag, value) for tag, value in tags_items)))
+        return [dict(Key=str(k), Value='' if v is None else str(v)) for k, v in tags.items()]
 
     # TODO: could break this into sub-methods for clarity
     def _cluster_kwargs(self, persistent=False):