President Tariff, the nepo landlord who cried bankruptcy, was never up to the task of negotiating a trade deal with our stalwart ally Canada, given their prime minister’s CV includes running two central banks. They’d nearly reached an agreement last week when Trump issued last minute demands. In a rare move of accountability, Trump doesn’t dispute this: CNN questioned him on this and he said, “That sounds like me.” (Which really isn’t the same thing as affirmatively remembering what you said in a meeting mere days ago.) So 50% tariffs went into effect on Canadian goods, then Prime Minister Mark Carney called Trump’s bluff and announced retaliatory tariffs due to start on September 8. And so Trump resorted to the only other play he could think of: threatening to rename Lake Ontario to Lake America, HA so there! Now Trump is doubling-down on yet another name change he doesn’t have the authority to make.
“You saw the Lake Ontario thing. People thought I was kidding, maybe I wasn’t,” Trump said with a slight chuckle during an interview on conservative commentator Glenn Beck’s show. “Because the last one you saw was the Gulf of Mexico is Gulf of America. Now, we have a gulf and we have a lake. It’s very simple.”
Trump made the remarks as he defended his sweeping 50% tariffs slapped on many goods from Canada after trade negotiations between the two countries fell apart last week. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney countered by hitting U.S. exports with tariffs ranging from 15% to 50%. Trump has threatened to also double tariffs on automobiles and auto parts from Canada from 25% to 50%.
“They charge tariffs, they take advantage of us as though they were a state, and they’re not a state,” Trump said. “And they’ve taken our car industry, and they’ve taken our agriculture industry. You know, the farmers can’t sell anything in there because the tariffs are so enormous. And yet they want to sell with us without any tariffs.”
Trump said Canada doesn’t “have anything that we have to have,” adding, “It’s time to teach Canada you can’t do this anymore.”
After writing on Truth Social on Aug. 25 that he’s giving “serious consideration” to renaming Lake Ontario, Trump posted a map showing Lake Ontario crossed out and Lake America written above the lake in large gold letters.
Lake Ontario’s name, which goes back to the 17th century, comes from the native Iroquois tribe’s word “Ontarí’io,” meaning “lake of shining waters,” according to the Center for Great Lakes Literacy. The name first started appearing on maps of European explorers in the 1660s.
…It seems unlikely other world leaders would adhere to Trump’s renaming of Lake Ontario to Lake America. Canadian officials, meanwhile, have made clear they would ignore any action from Trump to rename the lake.
“We’ll always call it Lake Ontario. Period. We’re proud of our Great Lakes,” Mélanie Joly, Canada’s ministry of industry, told reporters in response to Trump’s threat. “While all these shenanigans are happening, we’ll just be smart, we’ll be strategic and we’ll fight back.”
“While all these shenanigans are happening, we’ll just be smart, we’ll be strategic and we’ll fight back.” That’s the difference between a qualified elected official/healthy government, and what we have: an unhinged, unintelligent blowhard operating on McDonald’s frying oil and the will to raze all our institutions, both literal and figurative, to the ground. I never thought I’d spend so much time rooting against my own country, but go Canada! The retaliatory tariffs set to begin next month are projected to send the price of toilet paper soaring in the US (actually rather fitting, considering this presidency). I hope everyone who bemoaned, “But the price of eggs!” in 2024 enjoys paying an obscene amount of money for gas and toilet paper, all thanks to Don’s fart of the deal. #LakeOntarioAlways
Photos credit: Scott Webb on Pexels and via YouTube
Ooooh I CAN NOT with this petty, spiteful, drama queen!!
He is so damn embarrassing.
This idiot is still breathing? C’mon universe.
Oh no, you don’t @Mightymolly. Do not throw those “still breathing” thoughts out into the universe because I have a fervent prayer to God that no-way-in-hell will this cretin be getting an official “state funeral” using MY taxpayer money, where he will posthumously demand more carriage-less horses than Abraham Lincoln and a bigger “eternal flame” than JFK — all on MY taxpayer income! Then, know him (unfortunately), he’ll probably want the carriage(s) to be dipped in gold, with the words (ick) “trump” along the sides. NO WAY! Die on your own time, sucker.
He’ll get a state funeral no matter when he dies.
@Mightymolly: unfortunately, yes, but at least if he dies under a democratic president he won’t get the golden carriages with his name on it, the bigger flame, etc., etc. And I think he should only get the one day of flags at half-staff, since that’s all he gave Jimmy Carter.
@BeanBean – I will trade the gold carriages for him dying today. No one respects Vance, and they definitely don’t fear him. A blue wave in Nov paired with a GOP in chaos will significantly slow down the destruction of our democracy. Maybe not everyone has the stomach to seed the universe with thoughts of his demise, but NO ONE should be hoping for his survival.
Oh, I don’t hope for his survival! But dammit if he does, I want to see him in an orange jumpsuit & wrist & ankle shackles, the same ones he’s using on those poor folks on the disappearing flights.
We are in hell…
I cannot believe we are where we are. Canadians don’t hate Americans. We hate everything this administration stands for and we know they are not doing their jobs (representing the people) but they are doing A job. Too bad we have to boycott you guys.
Good luck to all of us.
What’s it like living in a country where you have confidence in your government? Do you wake refreshed and energetic ready to embrace the day?
This is *not* a competent government, it only gives that impression thanks to the idiot Trump. This is the same government i.e. the same people in essence which brought unseen numbers of Canadians to poverty and continue to tax the rest to oblivion while providing little in return. None of the “free” public services are worth their name or even less so, any funding. *Teens* are dying in the ER with completely treatable condition while waiting for hours, my neighbor died outside the building from brain cancer which no one bothered to diagnose because there were “no specialist appointments”, her eye eas at the time bulging out of its orbit. We’ve no longer money for kids’ camps despite making “above the average” salaries . Today an article published data that Canadians are drowning in debt while paying over 50% for housing alone. I can go on fo a long time but the incompetence and disregard of this government and its founding party shine at first glance. So, we wake up every day thinking of bills. And before someone tells me to check USA, that’s not the only country in the world. I am European and have worked in four different EU countries and every single one of them is beating Canada under this party’s governance. Just a couple more years and we’ll be free to be out of here, in the meantime we do our health checks amd many procedures in Europe but many people don’t have this option and for their sake, and especially younths sake, these politicians must go.
Some Canadians def hate us and I don’t blame them because our shithole country ushered in this insanity. That man and his deranged political party is destroying the world.
When we were in Canada earlier this year I told every Canadian I encountered that I’m from Massachusetts and we hate him here. Wish New England could become part of Canada. 🙁
For consideration: the narrative that “Canadians hate Americans” or “some Canadians hate Americans” is something that helps POTUS #47 to advance his hostility against Canada.
This narrative is part of a victim mentality. A victim approach that (to his credit) the orange menace has used to great effect to justify many of his terrible deeds – including the trade war he started with Canada last year, when he illegally ripped up USMCA/CUSMA (that he himself negotiated in 2018), At the time it was because Canada was responsible for fentanyl in the US, maybe illegal guns, I think also illegal migrants (who can keep track).
Here’s the latest 08/25/26 official WH Press Release quotes:
“President [#47] Is Finally Ending Canada’s Free Ride” “Canada has been ripping off the United States for decades – and President [#47] is done letting them get away with it.”
I know Americans are suffering greatly from this administration, and especially CBers. Here in Canada we had absolutely nothing to do with electing #47 twice and we are totally justified to have feelings about how your administration is impacting our lives, our freedom and our futures. It doesn’t mean we hate Americans.
That’s why I think comments like “Canadians hate Americans” can do a lot of damage in this environment.
We’re going to Vancouver for a wedding over Labor Day weekend, and my husband half-jokingly asked me to use a New York accent (which I don’t have; every trace of it was educated out of me) the entire time to reassure the locals, because he’s a straight white guy with a Southern accent and not even other Americans want to hear from people like him right now.
@ Noo-I agree that you’re justified but I completely disagree with this: “For consideration: the narrative that ‘Canadians hate Americans’ or ‘some Canadians hate Americans’ is something that helps POTUS #47 to advance his hostility against Canada” because that implies that Trump cares about what Americans think. He has not done a single thing to show that he gives two shits about any of us–his vengeance is entirely about his own ego and our approval/disapproval of his actions is neither wanted or needed.
In the most recent Gallup poll, 80% of Americans feel favorably towards Canadians. His bullshit tantrums are not gonna change that.
I’m not sure if I’m going to keep trying here on CB, but I have been trying, in the most gentle way, to present a perspective for consideration to Americans that comes from outside of your mirrored borders.
Considering the doomsday clock is seconds to midnight and POTUS #47 seems hell-bent on using the full strength of the United States of America to push us over the cliff into WWIII – I truly wish that folks in the US would be open to just sitting with those perspectives, the things you might not be seeing, things that might make you feel a little uncomfortable – and see if there is any usefulness in them before immediately rebutting them.
Canadians definitely do hate the Americans who are MAGA and who enable this maniac.
And Canadians aren’t the only ones. He’s boosted the chances of another threat on US soil way more than you realize. Starting nonsense wars tends to do that.
@Nic919 I think you’re a fellow Canadian – and from my whole heart, I sincerely wish we could just all stop talking about who hates who when we are in a powder keg situation.
The MAGA-in-chief has the nuclear codes and will do anything to keep power lest he be impeached (and lose his $B grifting scheme). Media is completely compromised playing into the outrage culture – this is just fuel for the fire to stoke hostility between our nations that is already so out of control. And – in my experience, I’ve seen that some Americans can be very sensitive to hearing that other folks in other countries might not hold them in highest regard – the current US identity is built to a large degree on being “the best” “the global superpower.” These kinds of statements are naturally triggering, and I don’t see how it’s beneficial in this environment to make sweeping statements about how individual people hate each other.
Death is taking the wrong 80-year-olds.
I thought this same thing.
I have been sorely tempted to resurrect the “don’t blame me, I’m from Massachusetts” bumper stickers that we popular back when it was the only state in the union to NOT vote for Nixon to be POTUS. I still remember bully boys lurking in the hallways of my elementary school, asking other kids who’d they’d “vote for” for president, and then beating up kids who didn’t pick their guy, Nixon. We were like 8 years old, I guess they learned to be good little GOP supporters young. Some things haven’t changed – Republican Party, home to mindless violent , intolerent bullies for over 100 years.
Donald Trump is a jackass, a blustering buffoon and a clown. It would be funny if he wasn’t also a vile bigoted pedophile who has never had to face any of the consequences of his disgusting existence.
Grim Reaper, get. it. together.
My 2 cents: death would be much too easy on him. He needs to feel the consequences of his diabolical actions by rotting in jail for a long time.
Yeah, I want him serving time for his conviction of 34 felonies. He still hasn’t been sentenced yet.
I have ZERO faith that trump will face any consequences other than impeachment (a formality) if the dems win the house and/or senate. I don’t believe he will EVER see the inside of a jail cell. His death, in my opinion, will stop the madness.
Agreed. He hasn’t had consequences for 79 years. Year 80 likely isn’t bringing a change. But it can (hopefully) help him off to hell.
Are the MAGAts still into this? Is this still making them feel good?
He’s managed to make at least a subset of his followers hate Canada. For no other reason than because Trump tells them to. It’s absolutely insane.
I love the fact we got here because some people in this country were aggrieved that anyone not white doing well in life was a slap in the face to them. And the price of freaking eggs and milk.
Just wanted to jump in here and be clear to Americans about what those “last minute changes” were, because I think there has been a lot of misinformation or just brushing over them by US media.
The United States wanted veto power over:
Whether or not they themselves want to stay in the trade deal – they could reneg any time they want.
Whether or not Canada was allowed to impose language laws in our own territory.
Which trade deals Canada was allowed to make with OTHER COUNTRIES.
And so much more. I know you are all on The Good Side here at celebitchy, but I see this being talked about as just a trade disagreement too much. This is about Canadian sovereignty and whether or not we are allowed to exist as an independent country, run by a democratically elected government, voted in by the people of Canada. This has never been just about trade.
Yup. Mango’s boss wants it all, and to do that, he has to destroy whatever it takes. Trade deals, security alliances, governments…
Just being clear that you’re referring to bunker grandpa here? That makes so much more sense.
Mightymolly—Yes, I am referring to Putin.
Well said @NotMika! The requests were absurd: they were basically making Canada a part of the US, forcing us to give up economic and social / cultural sovereignty (remove the French language! SRLY ?), which is obviously unacceptable. So no, it’s not just a simple snag or disagreement. It was a fundamental argument on Canadian independence.
I live in Quebec (born and raised), I speak both English and French, and while “protecting the French language” discourse normally just makes me sigh, right now I am so freaking angry that I can’t really express it properly.
How DARE that demented orange tell us which languages we can and cannot use? How dare he act like he has any say in our own internal laws and regulations? He needs to STFU and go back to acting like he knows what he’s doing in Iran.
Canadian here. Please read some news stories from our perspective!
cbc.ca/news
Our Prime Minister has earned degrees in economics from Harvard and Oxford and we trust his leadership. We are resolved to stay the course and protect ourselves until (please, please) the USA has a new administration up and running in January 2029.
Speak for yourself. “We” don’t trust Carney or any of the other incompetents. Try asking the record line ups at the foodbanks how much they trust these people.
“Whether or not Canada was allowed to impose language laws in our own territory.”
IDK why–maybe because I’m French–but this demand particularly enrages me. Who the fuck does this asshole think he is???? He has virtually NO RIGHT to attempt to impose American culture on another country!!!!!
And yes that’s what I think he’s doing by essentially attempting to eradicate the French language in Canada while prioritizing English. He’s trying to “America-fy” our neighbors to the north. Man, I am so sick of living in virtual hell. I don’t even have faith that we’ll make it through the next couple years with this menace in charge.
The relationship with our allies is permanently broken. We don’t ever go back to where we were.
Yes you will, Kitten. He can’t last forever and there are far too many good and decent Americans, millions and millions of you who wouldn’t hesitate for a second to help anyone who needs it, at home or abroad. Thanks to the World Cup millons more now know this too.
I think Americans need to realize that the way they are seen outside of their borders is not good at all. A rapist monster was re elected. So if you do leave the country be humble and confirm vociferously you never voted for him. Because if you don’t, you will be despised.
People outside of the US are suffering and will suffer more because of that idiot.
And in terms of nation to nation agreements, it will take a generation to trust again. Because no one ever knows when about 40,000 in Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania will decide to fuck with the world again
I feel bad for anyone who voted for Hillary or Kamala. But that’s it. Kumbaya time is done.
Dude is just so fucking pathetic and worthless.
Mango’s handlers (I say handlers at this point because I believe Mango no longer has the capacity for original thought) are intent on destroying every relationship the US has with its allies. Ultimately, if the handlers prevail, the damage done will be irreparable to most, if not all, Western alliances, which was, is and has been Putin’s goal.
I really appreciate this article and all the comments, TY.
I know our news sources are different, and I think it is really important for Americans to know how seriously we are taking this in Canada. The Prime Minister named this openly as “war” on the weekend, here are his words:
“You are at war when you get attacked. We got attacked.”
It’s very clear your current US leadership seeks to destroy and subsume our country.
We will never let that happen.
POTUS #47 is corrupt, mentally unstable, and can’t make a good strategic decision to save his life – look at the escalating commitment trap in Iran. He could do the same with Canada, he has already entered a losing battle.
The path he and his evil administration have chosen will only harm US and Canadian citizens and businesses and could escalate in very dangerous ways. If you are American and you don’t want this future, I hope there is a way to make this a midterm issue.
We will not back down. The last time the US seriously threatened Canada, it ended with the White House being burned down (1814). We strive to be tolerant and kind people, but we have limits and the US Administration has crossed them too many times to be ignored.
If you want independent media source, suggest Charlie Angus The Resistance / Meidas Canada. Toronto Star (paid) is excellent investigative reporting too.
And The Guardian.
Agree the Guardian is doing a good job.
I also think it’s important to center Canadian media sources in the conversation. CBC is free, and is mostly balanced but sometimes has some really terrible right-wing takes. Globe & Mail I’m a subscriber, and feel the same way as CBC – some of the editorials make me cringe (we have the Maple MAGA influence right-wing extremists threatening Canada from within right now too).
Maybe this time it’ll end up with the ballroom (if it ever gets built) burned down. Do us a solid Canada.
@Bqm I wondered about that as I was writing my first comment – #47 has so thoroughly debased everything the White House stands for that perhaps a cleansing by fire is needed? Still, if there’s one thing the $10T of added debt has gone towards, it’s more security surrounding #47, including at the White House.
Strategically, maybe Mar-a-Lago is a better place to begin? And there’s sure to be willing collaborators in the Caribbean considering the body count from him and Hegseth’s extended serial killing rampage on fishing boats.
Why not just get on with it and change the names of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans to Trump Ocean 1 and ,Trump Ocean 2? He is a madman in so many different ways. You can’t count his psychiatric (and physical) maladies on two hands. What is beyond disgraceful? Because that is where we are.
Please don’t give him any ideas!
I just think that, for the next three years, someone should give him a See and Say coloring book to keep him occupied during the day, then at night he can screech on social media, which I do not follow. Done, problem solved. Or give him a mythical building he can redecorate.
I want to see what the price of toilet paper will be. It’s going to go up.
As if we didn’t alienate the Canadians enough.
I’ve written this before, but a Canadian manufacturer refused to sell me an oven because they didn’t do business in America anymore because they “no longer supported the United States.” Thanks, Trump. In your executive over-reach, you even effed up my kitchen makeover plans.
Yup. A friend loves a Canadian brand of coffee pods and can’t get them shipped to her home in the US any more. I bought as many as I could for her when I was in Toronto.
Basically, Trump tried to demand that Canada become a vassal state to the US – trying to legislate who we can do our own trade deals with, which of our two official languages we conduct business in, and essentially deferring to the US on everything. That will simply never happen. It’s certainly not an offer that the US would accept from any of their closest trading partners. Plus, even if we had agreed to these ridiculous demands (which would require altering our own constitution and charter rights) it would never be enough! The current American President is not a person who keeps his promises. He would be back at it the next day, always wheedling and trying to take more, more, and more. You simply can’t make a deal with someone like that.
In fact, I don’t believe it was a serious negotiation at all from the American side. I don’t know about Agent Orange, he might truly be just a useful idiot, but I don’t think the people surrounding him were acting in good faith. There are people in this administration who knew that these negotiations would be scuttled and they chose not to care. Maybe even used their knowledge for personal enrichment. At the very least, they didn’t do right by their citizens, who will now have to pay the price. Maybe they will believe that Canada is to blame, but I hope that most know better.
Ultimately, I think the goal here was chaos, confusion, and petty grievances to try and distract from the economic disasters this administration has wrought. That kind of chaos suits Putin, too, of course.
I also used to have an eBay doll business and dealt with Canadians quite frequently. If I re-start my business, I fear Canadians wouldn’t buy from me anymore. Thanks again, Trump.
Rediculousness aside, he’s so boring and not creative. It’s not Lake Canada, it’s Lake Ontario so it would make more sense to re-name it after one of our states, duh. Or literally anything else.
(but of course no this is stupid it will always be Lake Ontario)
Puttytang used/uses the same rhetoric to justify Russian aggression against Ukraine. This seems comically moronic even by that stupid demented old crooks depth of hell standards, but creating trade tensions with Canada is really, really serious because even if the ugly rotting mango doesn’t end up in a foolish direct war with our closest ally and trading partner, prices on everyday goods are going to explode even further. Inflation is worse than being reported. The middle/working class is being finished off by the Republikkkan party’s insatiable greed and idiotic polices.
Canada controls the vast majority of the locks that connect Lake Ontario to the Atlantic Ocean and the upper Great Lakes. They hold 13 out of the 15 locks in the St. Lawrence Seaway system. Following Trumps nonsense, Canada enacted overnight regulatory and security updates under the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement. This will severely restrict our industrial and maritime shipping access.
@Bqm that is an update I had not heard. Thank you for sharing.
I was on a briefing call about the GoC’s tariff strategy this morning and where it is designed to be felt the most. There is some smart strategy behind it, I am pleased to see it.
We didn’t start this fight, but POTUS #47 is an idiot who is also stark raving mad. Despite being the smaller country economically, I know many Canadians are willing to use every resource we have to win this fight because our collective sovereignty depends on it.
Oh, my. Well, shipping magnates are gonna be p*ssed. Wonder if they’ll change their minds about who they voted for. Farmers still haven’t.
Lily, no. It’s Lake Ontario. Why change it at all? Why does Trump think he has the right to change it at all? And if he changes New York to New York Trump, would that be okay, too? This crook thinks he’ s like the original Adam and Eve, who had the right to name everything when they were placed in the Garden of Eden. He does not have the right to re-name anything he wants to just on his say-so. This is part of the horrendous over-reach of the executive branch. Should he have the right to re-name you Melania instead of Lily? Not to be snarky, but that man is a danger to all societies, nations, bodies of water, whatever. He is NOT King Midas or King Trump. Unchecked power is madness. What’s the saying, “Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” It’s true.
Sigh.
I miss Dolly and Tim. Time to go listen to “Backwoods Barbie” and watch “Clue” and sob.
I work for a global tech company and most of my colleagues are American. I’m on video calls with them all day and a couple of times/year we travel to the same cities and spend time together in person. These are smart people, many of whom I really like and have developed good relationships with over the years. What has been so disappointing and disheartening though is that none of them seem to get how insulting and threatening Trump’s actions towards Canada are. As a whole they seem to think it’s just a stupid joke, one they’re not in favour of but just an idiotic joke not to be taken seriously. This is infuriating.
And their largest news sources weren’t covering the specific reasons Canada pulled out of the talks: Trump trying to turn Canada into a state by making demands on who we can trade with and in what language we’re allowed to conduct business, for example. Those issues have been making it into more US coverage lately, but too often – still – it’s just referred to as trade talks breaking off, without actually identifying the why / the audacity of Trump’s demands. Many of the Americans I know complain about Trump and think he’s a buffoon, but it’s hard not to feel bitter at how they just don’t seem to really get it / pay attention to the details, and how they don’t seem to consume news sources outside of their borders.
I am a proud Canadian and this is all about annexing our country. The republicans and Proect 2025 are explicit about tis. They want our resources and our water, and they are doing more to unite us than any patriotic movement could. It took our former friend and ally to really make us sit up and remember who we are. And we are NOT AMERICAN,
I’m just so disgusted by all of these a**holes in his administration. Regarding name changes, when I worked for a National Forest the local tribe petitioned the Forest to change the name of a particular lake as it used an offensive term and the Forest did, going through the process with the US Geological Survey to make it official.
Remembering that, I went to the USGS website to check their topographic maps in the vicinity of the Gulf of Mexico and damned if they haven’t changed it to trump’s stupid Gulf of America!! I am so disgusted with the USGS, the Department of Interior, and everybody else enabling & colluding with this a**hole. Shame on them all! There are codes of ethics scientists are supposed to follow, there’s the code of ethics, 5 CFR 2635 that ALL federal employees are supposed to follow & those people that do trump’s bidding are violating that code. 😡
It’s an executive order. So it don’t mean crap!