NEW DELHI: A majority of Americans opposed President Donald Trump’s moves last week to raise taxes on imported Canadian goods and his order to rename Lake Ontario as “Lake America,” a new Reuters/Ipsos poll found.
The three-day poll, which concluded on August 30, showed Americans are wary of the feud with Canada — for decades a top US trading partner — which has escalated since trade talks between the two countries collapsed and Trump last week ordered the hike in tariffs on Canadian goods.
Only 20 per cent of poll respondents supported higher tariffs on Canadian goods compared to 57 per cent who opposed them and 21 per cent who couldn’t say where they stood. About one in five poll respondents hadn’t heard about the development.
US households are already under financial pressure from the surge in gasoline prices since Trump launched a war on Iran in February, and American voters rate the cost of living as the top issue determining how they will vote in the November 3 midterm elections. Trump’s Republican allies will be defending slim congressional majorities in the elections. Trump’s approval rating in recent weeks has been mired at the lowest level of his political career.
Theatrical turn
The trade conflict took a theatrical turn last week when Trump renamed Lake Ontario, one of the five Great Lakes of North America, as “Lake America.” Trump’s designation applies to US federal usage about the lake, and does not govern what Canada, international bodies or other organizations call the lake. The president has often ribbed Canada, threatening to annex the longtime ally as a 51st US state. He ordered the Gulf of Mexico be renamed the “Gulf of America” at the start of his second term in January 2025.
Just 14 per cent of Americans in the Reuters/Ipsos poll said they supported changing the name of Lake Ontario, which has gone by that name for more than 400 years. Sixty-three percent of poll respondents opposed the name change and the rest were unsure or didn’t answer the question.
Get serious, says Carney
Mark Carney has rebuked D o n a l d Trump’s administration and urged officials in Washington to “start being serious” amid escalating trade tensions between the US and Canada.
“When the Americans stop doing memes, stop throwing shade, stop trying to be tough and start being serious about having those discussions, we can have those discussions” about trade, Carney said.
Canada, the US’s second-largest trading partner, announced it would impose retaliatory tariffs on $20bn of American goods starting from September 8.
