WASHINGTON — President Trump on Thursday signed documents directing that Lake Ontario be renamed “Lake America,” a move that comes as his tariff-fueled trade dispute with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney intensifies.
“We’re going to be changing the name of Lake Ontario, effective immediately, to Lake America,” Trump told reporters from the Oval Office.
“We filed all the necessary papers, documents, everything else. We notified all of the various people that we have to notify. So we’ve done everything that you have to do, and this is official, effective immediately,” he said.
Trump blamed Canadian officials for the worsening tensions, saying they had handled the situation “very badly.” He added, “They’re nasty people. They charge our farmers 400% tariffs.”
The president previously moved to rename the Gulf of Mexico the “Gulf of America” last year.
“If you think about it, 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,” Trump said Thursday.
