Trump mulls renaming Lake Ontario to Lake America
President Donald Trump suggested on social media that the United States consider renaming Lake Ontario as Lake America, part of a broader escalation in trade tensions with Canada.
President Donald Trump posted on his Truth Social account on Aug. 25 that the United States is "giving serious consideration to changing the name of Lake Ontario to Lake America" as part of a broader dispute with Canada. The proposal follows a similar suggestion made last year to rename the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America.
The comment came a day after Trump announced plans to raise tariffs on cars, trucks, automotive parts and steel to 50% beginning Jan. 1, 2027, and warned that Canada would "be treated like a state no longer." Trade talks between the two countries broke down on Aug. 21, and Canada responded on Aug. 25 with retaliatory tariffs on nearly $20 billion of U.S. goods, set to take effect on Sept. 8.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford criticized Trump, calling him a "bully" and a "dictator," and questioned the president’s credibility on trade policy. Michigan Democratic Party chairman Curtis Hertel Jr. also dismissed the lake-renaming idea, saying it would not address broader economic concerns.
"The United States is giving serious consideration to changing the name of Lake Ontario to Lake America in that we don’t expect to doing much business with Ontario any longer," Trump wrote.
"I am not going to take any advice off a guy that's the king of bankruptcies," Ford said.
"Donald Trump has been America first in name only his entire presidency. He promised lower prices, higher wages and no foreign wars… all of that is (expletive)," Hertel said.
The proposal has drawn criticism from political leaders in both the United States and Canada, who view it as a symbolic gesture amid an intensifying trade dispute.