Trump threatens to rename Canada's Lake Ontario as trade war spat escalates
Donald Trump has said that he is thinking about renaming Lake Ontario 'Lake America' amid mounting tensions between the US and Canada.
The lake straddles the border between the US and Canada, with the Canadian state of Ontario to the north and New York to the south. Management of the lake has been government by the Boundary Waters Treaty, which was established in 1909, and it is overseen by both countries, with neither controlling it outright.
Taking to Truth Social as trade relations between Canada and its southern neighbour continue to deteriorate, Trump ranted: "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. Thank you for your attention to this matter!"
If renamed, this would require US federal agencies to refer to Lake Ontario as 'Lake America', though Canada would not be under any obligation to recognize this name.
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The spat has come amid an ongoing confrontation between Canada and the Trump administration after Trump imposed tariffs of 50 percent on Canadian good worth around $20 billion.
Ottawa responded by imposing matching tariffs on US goods including steel and electronics among others, with Trump then threatening to impose further tariffs on Canadian auto-parts and vehicles in retaliation.
In a further post shared to Truth Social, Trump also accused Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney of lying about Trump making 'threats' towards French-language protections in Quebec.
"I would never interfere with Canadians speaking French!" Trump wrote. "In fact, I have never even thought of doing such a stupid thing.
"This lie was made up by a weak and ineffective Prime Minister in an attempt to gain political support, which he has totally lost, from the people of Quebec. I love French Canadians!"
As tensions increase, Trump has also made further threats, telling Canada that it must 'fall in line' or he will take measures 'far WORSE' than the tariffs.
In Canada in addition to tariffs on US goods, Carney has announced support packages for Canadian workers and businesses impacted by Trump's tariffs.
Meanwhile, the premier of Ontario Doug Ford has highlighted that electricity produced in Ontario supplies some 1.5 million homes and businesses in the US. Ford warned that this supply could be cut off, saying that Trump 'better have a pack of batteries', as well as supplies of minerals, telling Trump to 'kiss my a**'.
Carny told Canadians: "You're at war when you're attacked, and we got attacked. We're going to hit back."
Trump has accused Canada of 'ripping off the United States for years' and being 'entitled', writing: "WE DON'T NEED CANADA, THEY NEED US!"
This is also not the first time that Trump has gotten into an international dispute over the name of a body of water.
The US president previously announced that the Gulf of Mexico, which has been referred to by its name for hundreds of years, as the 'Gulf of America'.
Despite some US firms voluntarily adopting Trump's name, the decision was met with a dry response from Mexican president Claudia Sheinbaum, who offered her own suggestion that North America be renamed 'América Mexicana' (Mexican America), citing an official document form 1814 which referred to the continent with that name.
Topics: US News, Canada, Donald Trump, Mark Carney
Kit Roberts