US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order renaming Lake Ontario to 'Lake America'. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing Kursiv Media.
When asked by journalists what signal he wanted to send to Canada by renaming the lake, Trump replied: "None."
Lake Ontario is one of the five Great Lakes of North America, located on the border between Canada and the United States. It is the easternmost and smallest by area of the Great Lakes: its area is about 19,000 sq km, average depth is 86 m, and maximum depth is about 244 m. The same name as the lake is borne by the most populous and economically developed province in central Canada.
As foreign media report, since the lake is divided by the state border (the northern shore belongs to Canada, and the southern shore to New York State), the legal force of Trump's order extends only to the territory and official documents of the United States.
The move comes amid a sharp escalation of the trade conflict and the breakdown of tariff negotiations between Washington and Ottawa.
Earlier, he stated on the social network Truth Social that the US does not plan to continue actively doing business with the Canadian province of Ontario, so the name should be changed.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney expressed categorical disagreement with the decision. He stressed that the lake was named by the Huron Indians more than 400 years ago, and for Canadians it will "forever remain Ontario."
Earlier, as part of his tariff and foreign policy, Trump had already ordered the Gulf of Mexico to be called the "Gulf of America."
Earlier, Kursiv reported that Trump harshly criticized Canada's leadership, calling Canadian politicians "clowns," and threatened the country with a serious deterioration in economic relations.