Trump Renames Lake Ontario to Lake America as Canada Tariff Fight Escalates
Updated
Updated · The New York Times · Sep 3
Trump Renames Lake Ontario to Lake America as Canada Tariff Fight Escalates
3 articles · Updated · The New York Times · Sep 3
Summary
An executive order signed last week directs U.S. federal agencies to refer to Lake Ontario as “Lake America,” extending Trump’s naming campaign to the lake shared with Canada.
The move came after U.S.-Canada tariff talks collapsed, triggering new tariffs and sharper rhetoric between Washington and Ottawa in an escalating trade dispute.
Like Trump’s earlier order renaming the Gulf of Mexico the “Gulf of America,” the change applies only to U.S. federal entities and does not bind Canada or other countries.
Mark Carney seized on the dispute in criticizing a changing America, helping drive searches for “hydronym” up more than 5,000%, while a Canadian geographer called the episode trolling rather than a high-stakes territorial fight.