U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Monday that the United States was “not at war” with Canada, while U.S. President Donald Trump continued to push for renaming Lake Ontario “Lake America.” On Monday U.S. officials confirmed he had contacted Apple about the change. The development comes after a “Lake America” label appeared on several provincial government agency websites over the weekend, following a Google Maps update that changed how the lake’s name is displayed in the United States and internationally. By Monday morning, the label was back to “Lake Ontario” after officials at agencies including Metrolinx, Hydro One and the LCBO scrambled to reverse the change. Amid a trade war with Canada, U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Thursday to rename the lake, which has been known as Lake Ontario for more than 400 years. The move has been met with swift condemnation from Canadians as well as Trump’s opponents in the U.S. Key details: Here’s what’s happening on Aug. 31, 2026: ‘We’re not at war with Canada’: Bessent A United States politician threw a barb at Canada on Monday in the ongoing trade war. In an interview with CNBC, Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent accused Prime Minister Mark Carney of turning President Donald Trump’s tariffs into a political shouting match. “We’re not at war with Canada. How are we gonna be at war with Canada?” Bessent said. “What are they... they’re gonna take their two submarines from the Edmonton mall and sic them on us?” Diego Romero, CTVNewsEdmonton.ca online news supervisor Read the full story here Ditching U.S. tech? Canadian author Paris Marx says there’s been a renewed interest in his list of alternatives to American technology in the past few weeks. Marx, who hosts the Tech Won’t Save Us podcast, maintains a catalogue of email services, mobile phones and other tech created by firms outside the United States. He says more Canadians are checking it out after U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order renaming Lake Ontario to “Lake America” last week. The Canadian Press Read the full story here PM Carney meets business leaders to discuss trade: PMO Prime Minister Mark Carney has met with a number of business leaders across different sectors to discuss Canada’s trade relationship with the U.S. A statement from the Prime Minister’s Office says the meeting covered recent developments on the file and the government’s priorities to spur economic growth and investment in Canada. The statement says attendees were also invited to share perspectives from their respective industries. Twenty-three companies were identified as attendees, including RBC, Enbridge, Bell Canada and Bombardier. CN Rail, Suncor and Nutrien were also listed as attendees. The meeting comes as Carney also named Dominic Barton as chair of Invest in Canada, replacing outgoing CEO Laurel Broten, a former Ontario cabinet minister. The Canadian Press Read the full story here Trump contacted Apple about name change: U.S. official A top U.S. official says U.S. President Donald Trump contacted Apple directly to get it to change the name of Lake Ontario to “Lake America.” U.S. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum told the Fox Business network today the body of water’s name might change on Apple maps very soon. The Canadian Press Read the full article here MapQuest refuses to rename Lake Ontario MapQuest, the self-proclaimed “OG of online mapping,” will not be following the footsteps of its competitor Google. It is keeping Lake Ontario’s name, despite President Trump’s executive order to rename the Great Lake to “Lake America.” “We’re not changing it,” the company said in a post on social media on Friday. Instead, the mapping company created a map generator for users to name Lake Ontario whatever they please. “Name it whatever you want at your leisure,” MapQuest wrote, encouraging those who do to tag them so they can see the creativity. The mapping company shared an example, with “Lake Are We Doing This Again?” written over the lake on its map, in an apparent jab to when Trump renamed the Gulf of Mexico to the “Gulf of America.” Alex Arsenych, CTVNewsToronto.ca journalist Que. government websites revert to Lake Ontario It’s Lake Ontario, as far as the Quebec government is concerned. For a brief period on Monday, users visiting the provincial transportation ministry’s interactive traffic map Quebec511.info saw “Lake America” appear on their screen. A spokesperson said the name of the lake was changed because the map uses data from Google Maps. “The issue has been corrected. The official name, ‘Lake Ontario,’ is now displayed,” wrote Émilie Lord, a transportation ministry spokesperson, in an email. The Ministry of Transport isn’t the only government website to show the wrong name. Quebec’s liquor control board told CTV News that it has asked its third-party provider “to make the correction on our website … to revert the name to Lake Ontario,” while the maps change also affected the website of the SQDC, the government-owned corporation that handles the sale of recreational cannabis. Joe Lofaro, CTVNewsMontreal.ca digital reporter Read the full story here Agency websites reverse ‘Lake America’ map change Metrolinx, Hydro One and the LCBO are once again displaying “Lake Ontario” on their website maps after scrambling over the weekend to reverse a change to “Lake America” that appeared when third-party mapping services updated the lake’s name. However, as of Monday morning, some websites were still displaying “Lake America,” including Loblaws store locator maps and TD’s branch locator map. Kayla Thompson, CTVNews.ca, journalist Canadians ‘confused’ by targeting of Lake Ontario: Smith Alberta Premier Danielle Smith is pushing her message for an end to the fierce U.S.-Canada trade war directly to Americans. Smith, appearing on the Fox Business Network, says Canadians are confused and disappointed by U.S. President Donald Trump’s recent effort to rebrand Lake Ontario as Lake America. She says it’s particularly confounding given the two countries’ long-standing economic and military relationship. The Canadian Press, Read the full story here. Blue Rodeo’s ‘Lake Ontario’ lyric Greg Keelor had been mulling what to say about Donald Trump all night. Blue Rodeo was about to play “Hasn’t Hit Me Yet” during their Saturday show at Toronto’s RBC Amphitheatre, and the Canadian band’s frontman knew their 1993 hit contained a newly loaded lyric: “Out in the middle of Lake Ontario.” Keelor considered using the moment to tear into the U.S. president, but he opted for a different approach. “I knew that the song would do the work,” the singer-songwriter says. “I didn’t have to say much. Just getting to that line was going to blow the roof off the place.” The Canadian Press. Read the full story here. Google Maps users share whether lake name changed After Google Maps changed the name of Lake Ontario to “Lake America” for its U.S. users, people around the world have taken to social media to share whether the body of water has been relabelled on their maps. In an X thread posted Sunday morning that garnered more than 7,000 responses, users from countries including France, Mexico, Japan and Egypt said the lake’s name remained “Lake Ontario.” However, some users including those in Ukraine and the Netherlands, reported that Google Maps displayed “Lake Ontario” with “Lake America” shown in brackets beside it. Kayla Thompson, CTVNews.ca, journalist Trump calls Canada ‘abuser’ U.S. President Donald Trump continued to take aim at Canada on Sunday afternoon, claiming on Truth Social that he had “revived and saved” the U.S. auto industry with tariffs.“ One of the Worst Abusers is Canada. I don’t want Canadian cars, I don’t want Canadian parts, I don’t want Canadian anything. They’ve been ripping us off for decades, and it’s going to stop,” Trump wrote in the post. “This should have happened long ago with other Presidents, just as stopping Iran should have happened long ago. They want to be treated like a State, but they aren’t one. I deal with the Leadership of many Countries, but I find Canada to be the worst. They are entitled no longer!” Aarjavee Raaj and Devika Desai, CTVNews.ca Agency websites show ‘Lake America’ on maps Several government agency website maps are displaying the “Lake America” name, including Metrolinx, HydroOne and the LCBO. Officials are blaming third-party mapping services for the change.“ Some Ontario government agency websites pull map data directly from Google Maps,” Ontario Minister of Public and Business Service Delivery and Procurement Stephen Crawford said in a social media post on Sunday. “Following recent changes by Google, we’re actively reviewing our websites to make sure they all identify Lake Ontario by its correct name: Lake Ontario.” Daniel Otis, CTVNews.ca journalist Google Maps announces name change Google Maps says it’s changing the way the lake’s name is displayed. The name “Lake Ontario” will be shown to Canadian users while Americans will see the new “Lake America” name. For users in the rest of the world, both names will now be displayed. “These updates follow our long-standing policy for bodies of water with names that vary from country to country, and are starting to roll out now,” Google said in an online statement. Daniel Otis, CTVNews.ca journalist ‘It’ll get changed back’: former U.S. ambassador to Canada A former U.S. ambassador to Canada calls the Lake Ontario name change a “huge distraction” that will likely be reversed by a future administration. “I actually think this is a huge distraction and the current president of the United States is a master of distraction,” Gordon Giffin told CTV News Channel on Monday. “When the facts aren’t going well we have foolishness, and this is foolishness, and I encourage Canadian leaders and Canadian citizens to just move on with their lives. Ignore this.” Giffin, who served as ambassador to Canada between 1997 and 2001 under former U.S. president Bill Clinton, hopes negotiators “can ignore the noise” and hammer out a deal that benefits both countries. “No serious thinker in the United States – Google aside – plans to change the way they refer to Lake Ontario,” Giffin added. “It’ll get changed back.” Daniel Otis, CTVNews.ca journalist Finance minister to meet U.S. counterpart at G20 meeting Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne will meet with his U.S. counterpart on the sidelines of the G20 finance ministers’ meetings in North Carolina this week. Champagne’s spokesperson John Fragos confirmed in a media statement that the minister will meet with U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent over the next two days. It’s believed to be the first face-to-face meeting between high-ranking Canadian and U.S. officials since trade talks between the two nations broke down 10 days ago and gave way to an escalating tariff fight. Bessent also confirmed the meeting with Champagne in an appearance on CNBC today, where he blamed the failed talks on Prime Minister Mark Carney’s approach to politics. The Canadian Press Read the full story here Ford unveils new Lake Ontario sign Ontario Premier Doug Ford unveiled a new Lake Ontario sign Saturday afternoon, just days after U.S. President Donald Trump renamed the Great Lake as “Lake America.” Ford’s appearance in Winona, Ont., came as Canada-U.S. trade tensions continue to escalate, with the premier using the name change to reinforce his message that Ontario will “never back down” and always defend its interests. “President Trump can call it whatever, but I can tell you the rest of the world will always call it Lake Ontario,” Ford said. “I receive numerous calls from governors that are saying, ‘we’re always going to call it Lake Ontario,’ and obviously Canada is always going to call it Lake Ontario. So that’s our message to President Trump.” Jermaine Wilson, CTVNews.ca, journalist Read the full story here Toyota, Honda may foot the tariff bill: Reuters analysis U.S. President Donald Trump is targeting Ottawa with a proposed 50 per cent tariff on Canadian car imports — but Japan’s Toyota and Honda may end up footing the bill, according to an analysis from Reuters. The two Japanese automakers account for more than three-quarters of all cars made in Canada. They could be forced to shutter some production lines if the tariffs go into effect on Jan. 1 as proposed, analysts said. While a deal could still be reached, the timing of the U.S. tariffs couldn’t be worse, as Japanese automakers are being stung by competition from low-cost Chinese EVs in markets such as Southeast Asia, Europe and Latin America. Reuters. Read the full story here. U.S. trade war looms over sovereignty debate in Quebec The trade war with the United States is impacting the sovereignty debate in Quebec, which will hold a provincial election on Oct. 5. “My opponent is named Donald Trump,” incumbent premier and Coalition Avenir Québec Leader Christine Fréchette said after dissolving the legislature on Thursday. “He’s the real adversary.” Parti Québécois Leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, who has been leading in public opinion polls since 2023, has promised a sovereignty referendum in his first term if elected. “Do not allow the Trump administration’s tactics to rob us of this important debate,” Plamondon said on Thursday. “At the end of the day, it is up to us, the people of Quebec, to decide our future and our destiny.” The Canadian Press Canadians intend to boycott U.S. products and travel When CTV News asked readers if they would boycott American goods due to the escalating trade war, more than 200 people responded to the callout, the majority of whom said they are boycotting U.S. goods, services and travel. A few say they continue to purchase U.S.-made products, so as to not impact American residents and businesses. Others say they’ve had enough of Trump’s behaviour towards Canada and, in some cases, say U.S. citizens bear some accountability for choosing him as their leader. Devika Desai, CTVNews.ca national digital producer Trump’s new tariffs on Canada raise legal questions In firing up a trade war with Canada, U.S. President Donald Trump turned to a 96-year-old statute so obscure that many trade lawyers didn’t even know it was still on the books. A week ago, Trump invoked Section 338 of the Tariff Act of 1930 to slap a 50 per cent tax on US$20 billion worth of Canadian imports. The move prompted dollar-for-dollar retaliation from Ottawa and strained already-tense relations between the neighbours and longtime allies. The president’s Section 338 tariff authority has never been used, let alone tested in court. “This law is literally a blank canvas because it’s never been litigated,’’ said Ryan Majerus, a partner at King & Spalding and a former U.S. trade official. The Associated Press
