Trump signs order to rename Lake Ontario ‘Lake America’ amid Canada trade war

President Donald Trump on Thursday signed an executive order that he said will “immediately” change the name of Lake Ontario to “Lake America.”

Trump’s attempt to rename the Great Lake, which straddles the U.S. northern border with Canada, came as a recent breakdown in trade talks between Washington and Ottawa has led to new retaliatory tariffs and a rapidly deteriorating relationship.

Trump in recent days had repeatedly threatened to take the symbolic step, but it was unclear if he was being serious. Canadian officials have already said they will not recognize the new name.

“We’re going to be changing the name of Lake Ontario, effective immediately to Lake America,” Trump said in the Oval Office before signing the executive order.

A White House official told Trump that the order directs Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum and his department to update the Geographic Names Information System “to reflect that lake once known as Lake Ontario will, from this day forward, be known as Lake America.”

The executive action marks the second time Trump has targeted the long-enduring name of an international body of water and renamed it for the U.S.

On the first day of his second term, Trump signed an order to change the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the “Gulf of America.” The attempt to rename the gulf, which has gone by the same name since the 16th Century, drew international opposition, and numerous media outlets vowed to stick with the common usage.

When Trump was asked Thursday what message he was trying to send by renaming Lake Ontario, he initially claimed, “No message.”

But he immediately added, “Canada has been ripping us off for a long time on trade.”

“They don’t pay for anything, and they want to be treated like a state, but they’re not a state,” said Trump, who last year angered many Canadians by repeatedly advocating for making Canada the 51st U.S. state.

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