United States President Donald Trump’s war on geography has opened up a new front – this time on the Canadian border. Amid escalating trade tensions between Washington and Ottawa, Trump said he would rename the large body of water shared between the US and its northern neighbour. We break down what Trump has announced, whether he can actually rename this particular body of water, and whether the rest of the world will have to use the new name.
During a news conference in the Oval Office of the White House on Thursday, Trump signed an executive order that changes the name of Lake Ontario to Lake America. Lake Ontario is in North America, on the border between the Canadian province of Ontario to the north and the US state of New York to the south. The name “Lake Ontario” is believed to be derived from the Huron Indigenous people’s Wendat language word “oniatarí:io,” which is thought to mean “lake of shining waters”, “great lake” or “beautiful lake”.
The body of water has already survived attempts by the French in the 17th and 18th centuries to rename it and the name first appeared as “Lac Ontario” on maps in the 17th century, replacing earlier names which had honoured French officials or saints. Trump said the change would be “effective immediately” and linked it to trade tensions with Ottawa, claiming Canada “has been ripping us off for a long time”. The Canadian officials have treated us very badly.
They’re nasty people,” Trump said. Doug Burgum, who is not mentioned by name in the order, is the US secretary of the interior. The US and Canada, whose economic relations have been fraught since Trump’s first term as president from 2017 to 2021, are currently embroiled in a renewed tariff war after failed trade talks.
Last week, Trump imposed 50 percent tariffs on nearly $20bn worth of Canadian goods. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, in retaliation, has promised to impose “dollar-for-dollar” tariffs against the US from September 8. Now and forever.” Tim Houston, the premier of Canadian eastern maritime province Nova Scotia, wrote on X: “We’re into some real foolishness now.
It’s Lake Ontario, buddy.” While technically Trump can call the lake “Lake America” within the US, his order is meeting resistance there as well. Democratic New York Governor Kathy Hochul has refused to call the water body by Trump’s suggested name. Alderman said that: “There is an important caveat in that this change does not have any authority on how US private entities [companies, nonprofits, news outlets] refer to the Lake.
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