WASHINGTON (LOOTPRESS) — President Donald Trump said Tuesday that the United States is considering changing the name of Lake Ontario to “Lake America” as trade tensions between the U.S. and Canada continue to escalate.
Trump announced the idea in an August 25 post on Truth Social, saying the U.S. was giving “serious consideration” to the name change because he does not expect the country to conduct much business with Ontario moving forward.
The comments come after trade negotiations between the United States and Canada broke down and the Trump administration imposed 50% tariffs on approximately $20 billion worth of Canadian goods. Canada is preparing retaliatory tariffs in response.
Trump has also threatened 50% tariffs on Canadian automobiles, auto parts and steel as the dispute intensifies. Ontario, Canada’s most populous province and the center of the country’s auto industry, could be particularly affected by the escalating trade measures.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has accused the Trump administration of attempting to weaken key Canadian industries and has vowed that Canada will respond to the U.S. tariffs. Ontario Premier Doug Ford has also taken a hard line, saying Canada could consider measures involving electricity and critical mineral exports to the United States.
Trump’s proposed name change would follow his previous executive action renaming the Gulf of Mexico the “Gulf of America” for use by the U.S. federal government.
Lake Ontario is one of the five Great Lakes and forms part of the international boundary between the United States and Canada. Any U.S. name change would not automatically require Canada or other countries to recognize the new name.
The latest comments add another symbolic element to an increasingly tense economic dispute between the neighboring countries, whose economies remain closely connected through the automotive, energy, agriculture and manufacturing industries.
