Trump proposes renaming ‘Lake Ontario’ as ‘Lake America’ as trade tensions intensify

President Donald Trump says he is considering changing the name “Lake Ontario” to “Lake America” amid rising trade tensions between the US and Canada. His comments come in the wake of an economic dispute involving competitive tariffs and barriers between the two countries.

The significant change would evoke the Republican president’s autonomous decision last year renaming the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America.

The United States and Canada are embroiled in a trade war with Canada expected to announce retributive measures after the Trump administration enacted 50% tariffs on 20 billion dollars of Canadian goods over the weekend following the collapse of bilateral talks.

Trump wrote on social media: “The United States is giving serious consideration to changing the name of Lake Ontario to Lake America because we don't expect to do such business with Ontario any longer.”

Canada and the United States share a bilateral trade partnership with an integrated supply network across autos, energy, agriculture and manufacturing making a prolonged trade conflict costly for businesses and workers on both sides of the border.