Donald Trump signed documents ordering that Lake Ontario be renamed “Lake America” as he and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney escalate their tariffs-driven trade war.
“We’re going to be changing the name of Lake Ontario, effective immediately, to Lake America,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Thursday, August 27, as he signed the documents.
“We filed all the necessary papers, documents, everything else. We notified all of the various people that we have to notify. So we’ve done everything that you have to do, and this is official, effective immediately.”
The US President said that “the Canadian officials have created this very badly. They’re nasty people. They charge our farmers 400% tariffs.”
Lake Ontario is located in North America, bounded by Ontario (Canada) to the north and New York (United States) to the south.
Lake Ontario
Trump previously renamed the Gulf of Mexico the “Gulf of America” last year.
“If you think about it, we have a gulf and we have a lake. Now, all we need is an ocean. So maybe we’ll have to change the name of the Atlantic and/or the Pacific,” Trump said.
Carney broke off trade talks with the US on Friday and claimed that “America is trying to break us so that they can own us,” but that so long as he was in charge it would “never, ever happen.”
Trump imposed a new 50% tariff Saturday on $20 billion of Canadian goods, including beer, cheese, wine, hockey sticks, cement and electronics.
He also threatened to hike tariffs to 50% on all vehicles, automotive parts and steel coming from Canada.
Carney vowed to fight back with retaliatory tariffs beginning on Sept. 8.