Can Trump really rename Lake Ontario, ‘Lake America’?

President Donald Trump has signed an executive order to officially rename Lake Ontario as Lake America. This decision was made in the wake of the collapse of trade talks between the US and Canada, which led to the imposition of new tariffs on Canadian goods. The executive order grants the US Department of the Interior 30 days to update the name change in the Geographic Names Information Service, the official repository of domestic geographic names in the US.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney strongly rejected the name change, emphasizing that the lake has been called Lake Ontario for over 400 years and predates the formation of Canadian Confederation and the US Declaration of Independence. He reiterated that things must be called by their name, stating that Lake Ontario is Lake Ontario – today and forever.

The US has a history of renaming international waters, most notably changing the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America during Trump's presidency. However, Mexico has rejected this change and faced legal disputes with tech giant Google over the naming of the gulf in its maps application. In response, Google Maps users in the US now see "Gulf of America", while those in Mexico see "Gulf of Mexico".

Canadian officials dismissed Trump's move to rename the lake, with Ontario Premier Doug Ford stating that it is Lake Ontario to Canadians and the rest of the world. Other premiers and ministers made similar statements. While US politicians had mixed reactions, Democratic lawmaker Debbie Dingell vowed to introduce a bill in Congress to nullify the name change, calling it "idiotic". Democratic New York Governor Kathy Hochul also stated that her state, the sole US state bordering Lake Ontario, would not adopt the new name.

As Trump signed the order, he claimed it was not a direct message to Canada, but rather a reflection of America's changing trade relations and foreign policy. However, the US-Canada trade negotiations have hit a new low, with insults exchanged between the two nations. There is a hint that relations may improve, with Canadian US trade minister Dominic LeBlanc noting that the US has withdrawn some of its demands around language requirements.

Despite this, both sides continue to accuse each other of demanding last-minute changes that caused the breakdown in trade talks.