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WARMINGTON: As Trump escalates trade war, all eyes will be on NFL game in Buffalo

There is no better example of the relationship between Canada and the U.S. than a Bills game

Published Aug 27, 2026  •  Last updated 7 hours ago  •  5 minute read

A general view of Highmark Stadium before a game between the Buffalo Bills and the Carolina Panthers on August 15, 2026 in Orchard Park, New York. Photo by Timothy T Ludwig /Getty Images

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Turns out U.S. President Donald Trump wasn’t just joking when he said he was thinking of changing the name of Lake Ontario to Lake America.

News out of Washington on Thursday indicates it was very serious as the president signed an executive order to make it happen.

Whether this will go through and Americans will refer to the great lake that borders between Ontario and New York — as Lake America — time will tell.

If it happens, it will be too late to tell the president to kiss Canada’s behind since Ontario Premier Doug Ford has already done that. This move was in retaliation to that escalation.

As all of this trouble and politics plays itself out in Washington, Ottawa and Queens Park, the true test of how Canadians and Americans feel about each other at street level will be on display in Buffalo on Thursday night.

Will Americans boo the Canadian fans? Will Canadians boo the Star-Spangled Banner? Or will the whole crowd cheer for both?

I am hoping for massive cheers as love and respect are shared between Buffalo Bills fans from both sides of the border of the two best countries in the world!

But this will be the first chance to gauge where the “war” between Canada and the United States over trade is really at just may occur at Thursday night’s big NFL game across the border at the new Highmark Stadium. Thousands of Canadians are expected to ignore Prime Minister Mark Carney, Premier Doug Ford and Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow’s edict to boycott American products in favour of Canadian and are planning to go to this game.

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It doesn’t get any more American than the National Football League. But there is no better example of the relationship between Canada and the U.S. than a Bills game — inside the stadium where thousands of Canuck fans have season tickets and outside where so many tailgate before and after the games.

There has been no sense of any interruption in this special relationship for tonight’s final pre-season game against the Pittsburgh Steelers. That said, however, all eyes will be on tonight’s scheduled anthem singer, Bella DeNapoli, a New York state native who is famous for appearing on The Voice on NBC.  Usually at Buffalo games, the crowds are not only respectful of the anthems and give them due applause, they have been asked to jump in and finish the singer when a microphone cuts as Cami Clune experienced first-hand at a Buffalo Sabres National Hockey League game last season.

I originally thought that O Canada was played at Bills games, but I subsequently learned that it is just the Star-Spangled Banner except for special occasions. This would be a perfect special occasion.

But with or without the Canadian national anthem, fan from north of the border should sing along with their American friends to the Star-Spangled Banner and leave the friendship to the fans.

Time will tell how the crowd will react in the middle of this tariff war, but the one thing they all can do is take the power away from the political leaders and make a statement of pushing away this ridiculous conflict that some people are trying to stoke and remind everybody that regular people don’t want any part of bad feelings between Americans and Canadians.

If they did that would be the strongest and most logical statement of the week and a much needed departure from the politicians on both sides of the border ramping up hostile rhetoric that plays well in political and social media circuit but not so much down at street or field level.

Canadian and American people outside of politics do not have their claws out toward each other as was depicted in a White House X post of a picture of an American Eagle attacking a Canada Goose.

Traditionally, Yankee and Canuck birds fly in the same flock.

While President Donald Trump’s arguably whimsical trolling with a new video from the Oval Office showing him drawing an X over Lake Ontario and with his Sharpie writing in Lake America or Ford and Chow’s more serious threats of potentially cutting of electricity to New York state, or the premier’s “Trump can kiss my ass” quote are top of the news, the true story is American and Canadian people not only get along great but truly like each other.

There is no animosity. We are neighbours, friends and business partners and we all benefit from each other and from the good relations with each other. There’s been a lot of bad faith this past week but amongst regular people there has traditionally been a lot of good faith. This is seen at Bills and Sabres games every time. Hopefully this remains. The rhetoric, antics and hurtful comments, moves and X posts from all sides may not reflect how the average person feels.

There will be lots of attention paid to see how many people are crossing the bridges from Canada and how many are in the Stadium tonight.

We will see if people are indeed following the edict to boycott American goods and products and events or if people just wanna go watch some football and cheer for their beloved Bills?

And they can express that tonight. We will see what happens.

But if Canadian government officials are asking citizens to not watch the NFL, they may not like the outcome of that request. They may have blocked American bourbon, whiskey and wines into the LCBO but it’s going to be harder to ban fans enjoying football, making a wager or travelling over the Peace or Rainbow Bridges to take in a game in beloved Buffalo.

Even on the Buffalo Bills web page, there is a news release on a recent agreement that says the “Buffalo Bills partner with TSN to expand radio network to three major Canadian markets” — Toronto, Montreal and Ottawa.

Hopefully they don’t find some way to tariff Canadians wanting to attend, watch or listen to their favourite team try to get to the Super Bowl! Unless there is something unforeseen to come in a retaliatory move from Washington, it’s system-like status quo and all systems go for Hosers to flood Western New York for some gridiron and parking lot barbecuing.

Luckily, that state is closer to Lake Erie than it is to the now contested Lake Ontario, which Trump wants to call Lake America.

But it seems the President is intent on making this move, which indicates just how vitriol this whole situation has become.

Hopefully sooner or later the two sides drop the grandstanding and realize the sun rising over Lake Ontario rises over both countries, the cars, products and raw materials benefit help float all boats and ending a relationship could in the end cost everybody more.

But with the President’s move Thursday, it does not seem to be on a path to be happening sooner.

Perhaps Bills fans Canadian and American — will show how they feel about it all tonight. In a strange way, it may be the NFL that brings back diplomacy to Canada-U.S. relations.

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