Trump orders U.S. federal use of ‘Lake America’ for Lake Ontario

Washington, United States. U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday ordered the use of “Lake America” in U.S. federal references to Lake Ontario, escalating a dispute with Canada amid stalled trade talks and tariffs on cross-border trade.

The order applies only to U.S. federal usage and does not determine how Canada, international bodies or other organisations refer to the lake.

Federal name change

“We’re going to be changing the name of Lake Ontario effective immediately to Lake America,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.

“The lake change, the Lake of America, was something I’ve been thinking about for a long time, actually,” he said.

Lake Ontario is one of North America’s five Great Lakes. About 52% of its surface area is in Canada, with the remainder in New York State.

Canadian and New York response

Within hours of Trump’s announcement, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and the Democratic governor of New York said they would not change the name of the lake, which is more than 400 years old.

Carney said the name predates both Canada and the United States as nations.

“We know that America is changing. Their trading relationships, their foreign policies, their national monuments, their hydronyms,” Carney said on social media.

“Canadians also know that naming reality means calling it Lake Ontario – then, now and always.”

Trade tensions

Trade talks between the United States and Canada collapsed last week, with both sides blaming the other for derailing three days of intensive negotiations.

Trump is facing the lowest public approval rating of his term and has struggled to resolve the trade war his administration initiated with Ottawa, as well as the war the United States and Israel began against Iran six months ago. Both have contributed to rising living costs for Americans.