President Donald Trump on Thursday signed documents directing that Lake Ontario be officially renamed “Lake America,” escalating his rhetorical battle with Canada as a tariff dispute between Washington and Ottawa continues to intensify.
“We’re going to be changing the name of Lake Ontario, effective immediately, to Lake America,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.
The president held up the signed directive following the announcement, while the White House also released a map reflecting the newly designated name for the Great Lake.
“We filed all the necessary papers, documents, everything else. We notified all of the various people that we have to notify. So we’ve done everything that you have to do, and this is official, effective immediately.”
Trump tied the decision directly to his growing dispute with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government, accusing Canadian officials of treating the United States unfairly and singling out tariffs imposed on American agricultural products.
Trump said that “the Canadian officials have created this very badly. They’re nasty people. They charge our farmers 400% tariffs.”
The Lake Ontario move follows Trump’s decision last year to rename the Gulf of Mexico the “Gulf of America.”
Trump suggested Thursday that he might eventually take his renaming campaign even further, joking that with a gulf and a lake now bearing the America name, an ocean could be next.
“If you think about it, we have a gulf and we have a lake. Now, all we need is an ocean. So maybe we’ll have to change the name of the Atlantic and/or the Pacific,” Trump said Thursday.
{Matzav.com}
