Hochul: New York won't follow Trump's 'Lake America' renaming

Premier Wab Kinew of Ontario called President Donald Trump's executive order to rename Lake Ontario as Lake America "sad." The Republican president signed the order on Thursday, directing his Interior Department to update the lake's name in the U.S. geographic naming service. However, Canada is not bound by the name change.

Trump had been mentioning the renaming in recent days as the U.S. imposed 50 per cent tariffs on $27 billion worth of Canadian goods after trade talks broke down. The renaming is not the first time Trump has changed the name of a body of water; last year, he renamed the Gulf of Mexico to "Gulf of America."

Kinew criticized the move, stating that it was "not his best work" and likened Trump's presidency to a rock band playing songs from 50 years ago. He added that Trump seemed to be trying to appeal to his base with the renaming, but the response from Canadians was "a little sad."

Ontario Premier Doug Ford dismissed the lake's name change as "a lot of rhetoric." Lake Ontario, one of the Great Lakes shared between the U.S. and Canada, has its name derived from the Huron Indigenous people's word "oniatarí:io," meaning "lake of shining waters." The province of Ontario was named after the lake.

Trump claimed that his action was not meant to send any particular geopolitical message but instead expressed frustration over Canada's trade and military issues with the U.S.