Jan Alden: Look, we are used to being one of the United States's closest allies and largest trading partners. Then came President Donald Trump. He's repeatedly threatened to annex Canada and he's convinced we're taking advantage of America.

Donald Trump: Canada's been ripping us off for a long time on trade.

Jan Alden: So, did our recent trade talks go well? As you're probably already aware, that's a definite no. They collapsed at the last minute. And according to Carney, the US quote asked too much and offered too little. Now we've got more US tariffs on Canada and the Canadian counter tariffs that took effect just this week. Oh, and the trade war also triggered a war of words over a lake and it's pretty close to home.

Donald Trump: We're going to be changing the name of Lake Ontario effective immediately to Lake America.

Jan Alden: No surprise, Ontarians aren't willing to play along. Premier Doug Ford literally spelled it out. So, does Trump's name change matter? And what does all this mean for our relationship with the states? We dig into how much it's changed and whether it'll ever recover? I'm Jan Alden. Welcome to the rundown.

Ruben Rose-Redwood: This is part of a broader playbook that Trump is using to kind of reshape our sense of reality in a sense. So my name is Ruben Rose-Redwood and I'm a professor of geography at the University of Victoria and my research looks at the politics of place naming and cultural landscape studies. The conventional process of renaming geographic places in the United States is that there's the US Board on Geographic Names. They have a domestic and a foreign names committees and they consider proposals. Anyone in fact can submit a proposal to the US Board on Geographic Names. It goes through an extensive consultation process at multiple levels. If it's an international geographic feature, it would then go to the geographic names board in this case of Canada as well. We saw this with the naming of the Salish Sea back in 2009 where the two countries worked together both at state, provincial and federal levels.

Ruben Rose-Redwood: Right. So both Google and Apple, they run their different map applications and they both adopted this Lake America naming. In the United States, Trump does have the authority through executive order to direct the Secretary of the Interior to direct the Board on Geographic Names to make a name change on federal maps. However, internationally, that name change has no standing.

Ruben Rose-Redwood: Yes. And so as I said in the article that I wrote, you know, I don't think this is more or less offensive than the change in name to the Gulf of America. It is a geopolitical provocation. But if it gets institutionalized by big tech and used by hundreds of millions of people on a daily basis in mapping apps, it starts to shift people's everyday spatial perception.

Ruben Rose-Redwood: Why? Because you've had 18 months to deal with the fact that Donald Trump is very clearly abusing their dependence on this US server. Since the trade disputes began, the speed with which tech giants comply with White House directives exposes our critical vulnerabilities in digital sovereignty.

Ruben Rose-Redwood: Right. So, you know, this would not be the first time in history that a relatively important substantial issue was illuminated by something that seemed symbolic or petty on the surface. It’s about a lake name on the outside, but underneath it exposes asymmetric power and control over critical infrastructure.

Ruben Rose-Redwood: How do people feel about data centers at the moment? Well, I mean you've probably seen some of the reporting from Hamilton as well, right? But generally, people are waking up to the fact that physical land, water resources, and digital server jurisdiction are becoming the frontline of geostrategic leverage. Thank you so much.

Jan Alden: Canada and the States have been longtime friends and allies with close economic, cultural, and personal ties. Now, thanks to annexation threats and trade sanctions, that foundation of trust is fracturing.

Doug Ford: No, I don't respond to a dictator like President Trump. Bully like President Trump.

Jan Alden: We've got dictator. We've got bully. Shannon, you've written about the Trump administration for the Globe and Mail. Are Canadian politicians taking the right tone in their rhetoric?

Shannon Proudfoot: Andrew, you were the director of communications for former Prime Minister Stephen Harper. So I need to understand when it comes to, you know, delivering a message against this kind of provocation, it requires a very delicate balance.

Andrew MacDougall: Well, I think the first thing you have to do is to realize the limitations of what anything you say can and might do. I think you're dealing with an opponent who doesn't play by conventional diplomatic rules. Trying to reason with or placate Trump is futile. The only viable path is demonstrating absolute firmness while preparing domestic resilience for the long haul.

Jan Alden: Well as you said Canadians seem to be on board with Carney's approach. So far an Angus Reed poll that came out Tuesday found that 76% say Canada should stand its ground with counter-tariffs.

Andrew MacDougall: Oh, I think it definitely does. I mean, it puts all political factions in a rare united stance. It’s actually a very tricky position for the Conservatives, because when the country faces external unilateral threats, breaking ranks with national solidarity carries a devastating political penalty.

Jan Alden: Shannon, that same poll did find that a whole lot of people are scared about the rising costs, uh, losing their jobs as well. Do you think Canadians are genuinely prepared for the sustained pain of a full-blown trade war?

Shannon Proudfoot: Andrew, help me understand here. How do politicians keep Canadians on side right now? When we look at those numbers, the appetite for defiance is huge, but the anxiety over kitchen-table economics is just as real.

Andrew MacDougall: Yeah, I think it's just keeping the greater context in mind. Right now the number one thing Canadians want to see, as Stephen was saying, is a tough posture defending sovereignty. People know economic pain is coming, but they won't tolerate surrender without a fight.

Jan Alden: I mean, so far Trump has been doing a whole lot to keep Canadians united against him. There's Lake America and there have been a few viral posts and memes poking back at it.

Stephen Marche: I can be very petty if I want to. I'm sure politicians probably are like, I can probably get some AI images and fight back with memes on social media.

Stephen Marche: But when he's doing that theater, we need to be working. We need to be real busy right now getting out of the way of these people and insulating our critical dependencies.

Jan Alden: Stephen, I want to stick with you. A lot of people here feel attacked personally, of course, not just economically. Has the US-Canada relationship suffered permanent, structural damage?

Stephen Marche: I don't think so. I mean, the last time you could compare it to—though I'm not sure it's fully comparable—is just before Confederation during the Fenian raids and post-Civil War annexation rhetoric. But the century-old foundation of assumed trust is gone. Even if an administration changes, Canadians will never forget that our neighbor is capable of weaponizing trade and sovereignty overnight.

Jan Alden: Andrew, would a new administration change things?

Andrew MacDougall: Wait a minute. I guess I'll give you the coward's answer: it depends what that administration looks like. But seriously, protectionism and America-first isolationism are now deeply embedded across the US political spectrum. Trump isn't just an anomaly; he accelerated a structural shift. We cannot base our national strategy on hoping for benign Washington election cycles.

Jan Alden: Stephen, according to polling from YouGov America, 38% of Republicans view Canada as unfriendly or an enemy to the US, by far the highest level in polling history. What does that hostility mean?

Stephen Marche: Well, it depends what Donald Trump wants to do with them. I mean, they're capable of being whipped into basically any frenzy that he demands of them. Painting Canada as a villain and economic leech has become an established trope for populist mobilization.

Jan Alden: Shannon, is this trade war and everything that goes with it revealing anything about our national character?

Shannon Proudfoot: I happen to be working on a story about that right now. We infamously define ourselves by polite understatement and self-deprecation, often feeling we lack an aggressive national myth. But history shows that whenever external pressure from the south attempts to bulldoze us, a fierce, resilient, and unyielding Canadian identity instantly coalesces. This crisis isn't just redefining borders; it's forcing us to remember who we are.

Jan Alden: Time will tell. Shannon, Stephen, Andrew, thank you so much. I really appreciate you taking the time. Have your feelings about the US changed and what do you think lies ahead? Thank you for watching and listening to the rundown.