US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order officially renaming Lake Ontario’s name to Lake America.
The name change is Trump’s latest attack on Canada as the two countries engage in a rapidly spiraling trade war.
‘I guess the purpose of this, more than anything else, is we’re going to be changing the name of Lake Ontario, effective immediately to Lake America. That’s going to take place right now as I sign the order,’ the President said.
According to Trump, this official order is effective immediately, as he set his pen to paper.
‘We defend Canada for nothing, we don’t get anything,’ he told reporters in the Oval Office when asked what prompted these changes. ‘We love the people of Canada, but their representatives aren’t doing an appropriate job.’
Trump says he has been thinking of this name change for a long time and added ‘Canada has been ripping us off for a long time on trade, very sadly, even the military’.
The executive order states that the United States claims most of the lake’s volume, ‘with the deepest parts of the Lake’s waters lying within United States territory.’
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said on X that Canadians will never stop calling the body of water Lake Ontario, whose name predates the United States and Canada and originates from the Wendat word ‘Ontari’io, meaning beautiful, big lake.
The President announced the tariff increase after the two countries failed to reach a trade deal on Friday, sparking a tense back-and-forth between Trump and Canada’s prime minister Mark Carney.
Trump is set to increase tariffs on cars, trucks, automotive parts and steel from Canada to 50 percent by 2027.
‘On Trade, and in other ways, also, they are among the worst Nations in the World to deal with. They feel entitled, and yet, we don’t need Canada, they need us,’ Trump said on Truth Social.
