Lake America Executive Orders Meet Canadian Energy Tariffs
August 29, 2026
President Donald Trump's executive order renaming Lake Ontario to Lake America and deploying Depression-era trade tools have escalated an intense tariff war with Canada. As Prime Minister Mark Carney and provincial leaders like Doug Ford weigh counter-tariffs, electricity export restrictions, and oil levies, the breakdown in bilateral talks threatens cross-border supply chains, agricultural fertilizer markets, and regional economic stability.
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Trump’s Lake Ontario bluster: Why treating his sovereignty threats as a joke is dangerous
When United States President Donald Trump first began calling former prime minister Justin Trudeau the “governor” of the “great state of Canada” in December 2024, I remember telling friends we should be concerned. One friend told me I was overreacting. It was just Trump being Trump. By then, Trump’s…
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Trump’s ‘renaming’ of Lake Ontario is emblematic of centuries of colonial erasure
The ongoing economic spat between Canada and the United States took a strange turn after U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order “renaming” Lake Ontario as Lake America. The lake is the second body of water to be renamed by Trump. In January 2025, he similarly ordered that the Gulf of…
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Lake Ontario to Lake America – who gets to decide what goes on maps?
President Trump signed an executive order on Aug. 27, 2026, to rename Lake Ontario 'Lake America' amid an ongoing trade war between the U.S. and Canada. Andrew Harnik/Getty Images On Aug. 27, 2026, President Donald Trump issued an executive order renaming Lake Ontario “Lake America,” claiming his ad…
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US-Canada trade war deepens as Trump revives Depression-era trade tool – what’s at stake for consumers and the midterms
U.S. and Canadian flags wave in the wind next to Blue Water Bridge, which connects Port Huron, Mich., and Point Edward, Ontario. AP Photo/Paul Sancya The United States and Canada, historically close allies, are moving further into a full-blown trade war with no end in sight. On Aug. 25, 2026, Canada…
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Why the US-Canada trade war could change how American farmers grow their crops for years
Most healthy soybean fields like this one in Minnesota rely on fertilizer. Richard Hamilton Smith/Design Pics Editorial/Universal Images Group via Getty Images U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade war with Canada is getting personal for American farmers. After trade talks between the two longtime all…
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Canada is willing to fight the US over tariffs. What about arms?
While booze became a symbolic battle cry for sovereignty in the escalating and damaging Canada-US trade war, there is one commodity Canada is unwilling to disrupt: arms exports.
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Standing up to Trump: More on the case for an export tax on oil and gas
The response of Canadians to the breakdown of trade talks with the US has been heartening, and Prime Minister Mark Carney's announcement of counter-tariffs is popular, but it is likely that more will be needed.
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How far will the US-Canada trade war go?
Canada and the US risk a full-scale trade war after a breakdown in talks.
- geopolitics
- structural power
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With the US and Canada locked in a trade war, fears of a recession lurk
Analysts say Canada may lose 100,000 jobs under the current tariffs and could go into recession if the USMCA pact ends.
- geopolitics
- structural power
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Intensifying trade war could permanently alter Canada-US trade, says economist
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US trade war looms over sovereignty debate in Quebec election
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Canada is recruiting dozens of foreign scientists, researchers, poaching many from US
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Ford on restricting electricity exports to the US: 'everything’s on the table'
In March 2025, the Ford government placed a 25 per cent surcharge on electricity exports to the US for one day at the beginning of the trade war.
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American revolution 2.0: how Trump has changed the US, and why it was powerless to stop him
America’s system of government, and the constitution on which it is built, was created in different times and for different circumstances and purposes, and it has changed very little since then. Many of its components, such as the way elections are conducted, are battered and worn from centuries of…
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