Ottawa's City Council voted unanimously on Wednesday to remove President Donald Trump’s name from a residential street in the Canadian capital amid an increasingly hostile trade war. The motion to rename “Trump Avenue” in the city’s Central Park neighborhood was brought forward by River Ward councillor Riley Brockington on Sept. 9 and swiftly received support from other local officials. The move symbolizes the strained relations between the two countries, as Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney goes head-to-head with the Trump Administration in a trade standoff.
Canada’s retaliatory tariffs came into effect on Sept. 8, matching the economic pressure imposed by the U.S. after negotiations collapsed last month. Trump’s repeated threats to annex Canada and his insistence on referring to it as the “51st state” have significantly contributed to the tensions. The streets in Ottawa’s Central Park neighborhood were named after New York City institutions in the late 1990s and early 2000s, when Trump was primarily known for his businesses and real estate ventures, long before his political aspirations came to fruition.
Brockington said a consultation with local residents will now follow, with alternative names proposed for “Trump Avenue” ahead of a vote. The vote to cut the street name comes after President Trump recently pushed through controversial renaming efforts of his own. In late August, he signed an Executive Order renaming Lake Ontario, which borders the Canadian province of Ontario and the U.S. state of New York, as “Lake America.” The order applies to U.S. federal references of the lake and does not determine how Canada—or others—refer to the body of water.
Several lawmakers across both countries have rejected the new moniker. Thomas Juneau, a professor of public and international affairs at the University of Ottawa, says the street name change in Ottawa is “illustrative of the mood” of Canadians. A poll by Politico, conducted Sept. 13-15, found that 83% of Canadians thought it was wrong for Trump to impose tariffs on their country, while 71% backed Carney’s retaliatory tariffs.
Another poll, conducted by Abacus Data between Sept. 4-9, found that 82% of Canadians had a negative impression of Trump. In a new interview, Carney admitted he had prepared over the past 12 months or so for the “extreme tail risk” that Trump might order military action against Canada, amid the U.S. President’s repeated mentions of his desire to annex the country.
That’s not a base case, but it would be irresponsible not to” prepare. Juneau says the “risk of American military intervention against Canada is extremely low,” but reasons that just because Canada “shouldn't take [Trump’s] threat literally, it doesn't mean they shouldn't take it seriously.” In an April 2025 interview with TIME, Trump denied he was “trolling” when discussing annexation. We're taking care of every aspect of their lives… We don't need anything from Canada.
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