Trump Urges Canadian Firms to Relocate; Google Renames Lake Ontario for US Users
Two linked developments in the US-Canada trade dispute illustrate how the conflict is moving from tariff schedules into symbolic and corporate terrain.
President Donald Trump has publicly called on Canadian companies to relocate their operations to the United States, framing the move as a way to avoid tariffs imposed as part of the ongoing US-Canada trade dispute. Trump also characterized Canada as "one of the worst abusers" in trade matters and stated that the country "no longer has a right to privileges," according to reporting by El Nacional.
The statement represents a direct appeal to corporate decision-makers in a trading partner that, according to the Office of the United States Trade Representative, was the second-largest goods trading partner for the United States in recent years, with bilateral trade exceeding $700 billion annually as of the most recent available figures.
Separately, Google has updated its Maps application to rename Lake Ontario as "Lake America" for users accessing the service from within the United States. The change followed a formal order by President Trump directing the renaming of the lake, according to the South China Morning Post. Google confirmed the update reflects the presidential order.
The renaming applies only to the US version of the Maps application. Users in Canada and other countries continue to see the lake listed under its longstanding name, Lake Ontario, which has appeared on maps under that designation since the 17th century, derived from a Wyandot word meaning "great lake."
Google's decision to implement the name change follows a pattern established earlier in 2025, when the company updated Maps to reflect Trump's renaming of the Gulf of Mexico as the "Gulf of America" for US users, a change the Mexican government formally objected to at the time.
Lake Ontario sits on the international border between the United States and Canada. It is one of the five Great Lakes and drains into the St. Lawrence River. The International Joint Commission, a bilateral body established under the 1909 Boundary Waters Treaty, holds jurisdiction over shared management of the lake's water levels and flows. It is not publicly confirmed whether the Commission has been formally notified of the renaming order or whether any Canadian government response has been filed.
The tariff dispute forming the backdrop to both developments escalated over the course of 2025 and into 2026. Both the United States and Canada imposed rounds of retaliatory tariffs on each other's goods, according to the South China Morning Post's reporting on the renaming story, which noted that both countries have imposed "billions of dollars in added tariffs on each other."
The Trump administration's invitation to Canadian companies has no regulatory mechanism attached to it in publicly available statements. What, if any, specific incentives, tax arrangements, or immigration pathways are being offered to facilitate relocation is not known from available source material. A formal White House policy document or executive order would be required to establish those details.
Canadian government officials had not issued a formal public response to either the corporate relocation appeal or the lake renaming as of the date of this report, based on available sourcing. The Canadian Department of Global Affairs would be the expected source for any official diplomatic reply.
The developments occur as broader US-Canada relations remain strained across multiple policy areas, including trade, border management, and energy. The trade dispute has been one of the more protracted bilateral conflicts between the two countries since the NAFTA renegotiation period of 2017 to 2018, which produced the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement.