Trump’s Latest Renaming Effort Targets Lake Ontario
In a bold move, President Trump has taken steps to officially rename Lake Ontario to “Lake America” through an executive order. This decision follows a similar action taken during the onset of his second term, where he renamed the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America.
NPR’s Danielle Kurtzleben reports that Trump announced this change in a video, humorously illustrating the renaming process by marking the new name on a map with a Sharpie. As he stated, “And all it takes is a good pen and some intelligence. So Lake Ontario – that’s gone. Lake… America.”
Trump justified this latest action by citing unfair trade practices by Canada, a neighboring ally of the United States. “People – oftentimes they’ll ask me, who’s the worst to deal with on trade? And I said, that’s easy. Canada. They are the worst at trade. And they feel entitled, and just – we can’t have that,” he explained.
Despite the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) negotiated during his first term, tensions have persisted. Trump has frequently imposed or threatened tariffs on Canadian products, prompting Canada to respond with its own countermeasures, including tariffs and boycotts of American goods. Recently, a 50% U.S. tariff on various Canadian imports was enacted following unsuccessful trade negotiations.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney expressed his concerns, stating, “More fundamentally, the cumulative effect of U.S. demands revealed the limits of their commitment to a true economic partnership.” Carney also emphasized Canada’s potential leverage in U.S. energy imports while announcing retaliatory tariffs.
The renaming of Lake Ontario, however, is limited to official U.S. government use. The lake, shared by both the U.S. and Canada, is divided by the national border. Deputy Staff Secretary Ben Moss pointed out that, “This is a lake that has most of its volume in the United States. The deepest parts of the lake sit in United States territory. So this will reflect that this is an American lake.”
Despite these developments, public opinion polls consistently indicate that a majority of Americans oppose Trump’s tariff policies.
Danielle Kurtzleben, NPR News, the White House.
