US President Donald Trump has ordered Lake Ontario to be renamed “Lake America”, amid escalating trade tensions with Canada.
U.S. President Donald Trump. (REUTERS FILE)
Trump signed an executive order changing the name of the body of water on the border between the North American neighbors, AFP reported.
“We’re going to be changing the name of Lake Ontario effective immediately to Lake America,” the US President said as he signed the order at the White House.
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However, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney rejected US President’s move, saying it would be called Lake Ontario “then, now and always.”
Carney pushed back, noting that the lake’s name dates back 400 years, predating the formation of both the US and Canada, and is derived from an Indigenous word meaning “the lake is beautiful, the lake is big.”
“America is changing,” he said in a post on X, adding that Canadians know the lake should be called “Lake Ontario — then, now and always.”
The move comes after Washington imposed 50 per cent tariffs on Canadian products worth USD 20 billion following failed trade talks, with Canadian Prime Minister vowing to match the tariffs.
Carney said he would match US tariffs “dollar for dollar,” after refusing to accept Washington’s conditions for a trade deal.
Trump’s executive order directs the US Department of the Interior to update references to the lake in the official geographical naming service within 30 days and ensure that the federal government refers to it as “Lake America.”
The order cites the fact that the deepest part of the lake lies on the American side as justification for the change, stating that the United States therefore “claims most of the Lake’s volume.”
Trump, who is facing low approval ratings amid the Iran war and economic difficulties at home, with crucial US midterm elections due in November, said he had been considering the name change “for a long time.”
The US president also hinted at possible changes to the names of oceans bordering the United States.
“We have a gulf and we have a lake. Now all we need is an ocean. So, maybe we’ll have to change the name of the Atlantic and/or the Pacific. Maybe we’ll change them both,” he said.
(With inputs from AFP)