Trump says US will rename Lake Ontario to ‘Lake America’ amid trade war with Canada

President Trump signed an executive order renaming Lake Ontario to “Lake America,” directing federal agencies to scrub references to the old name, days after imposing 50% tariffs on roughly $20 billion in Canadian goods following collapsed trade talks. The order itself never mentions Canada, framing the change as honoring American heritage and citing U.S. jurisdiction over the lake's deepest waters.

Trump told reporters the renaming sent “no message” to Ottawa, then immediately said Canada has been “ripping us off” on trade for years and claimed the U.S. loses $60 billion annually on the relationship. Canada has already announced roughly $20 billion in retaliatory tariffs targeting states with large numbers of Trump voters, set to take effect next month.

The move echoes last year's Gulf of Mexico renaming to “Gulf of America,” which Mexico and Canada still refuse to use, though Google Maps has adopted it. No other Great Lake is currently slated for a new name.

The full dispatch is available from the source below.