Trump threatens to change Lake Ontario’s name as trade war with Canada heats up

Washington — President Trump threatened Tuesday to change the name of Lake Ontario to “Lake America” amid an escalating trade fight with Canada. 

“The United States is giving serious consideration to changing the name of Lake Ontario to Lake America,” Mr. Trump said in a post on Truth Social Tuesday morning, claiming the U.S. doesn’t expect to be “doing much business with Ontario any longer.” 

Mr. Trump’s comments came as tense trade dynamics with the U.S.’ northern neighbor have come to a head in recent days, in the latest dustup between two historically allied countries. On Saturday, the U.S. began imposing 50% tariffs on hundreds of Canadian goods after negotiators failed to reach an agreement to resolve the standoff over trade between the key partner countries, prompting Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney to promise new retaliatory tariffs against the U.S. 

On Monday, Mr. Trump announced that the U.S. will impose a 50% tariff on all Canadian automotive and steel imports beginning in January, while claiming that “Canada has been ripping off the United States of America for years.”

“Canada will be treated like a State no longer!” Mr. Trump added.

Lake Ontario sits between Ontario, Canada’s most populous province, and New York state. Mr. Trump and Ontario’s Premier Doug Ford sparred on Monday, with Ford calling the U.S. president a “loser” and a “dictator” and pledging to “fight with everything we have.”

During his second term, Mr. Trump has repeatedly made threats to make Canada into the 51st U.S. state and sparred with Canadian leaders over trade, NATO, and a dispute over a Detroit-area bridge.

The apparent consideration comes after Mr. Trump announced as he returned to office in early 2025 that he planned to change the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the “Gulf of America,” and he later signed an executive order to that effect. The name change was applied to federal references, but other nations are not required to recognize the name.