Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has rejected the proposal Donald Trump’s move to rename Lake Ontario to ‘More of America’, referring to the lake’s indigenous name and centuries of history.
“The name Lake Ontario comes from the Wendat word Ontario’io, which appropriately means ‘the lake is beautiful, the lake is big,’” Carney wrote in an interview with the newspaper on Thursday. message on X.
Carney said the name is more than 400 years old and predates Canadian Confederation and the American Declaration of Independence.
Carney’s comments came as Trump signed an executive order on Thursday executive order that he said he would “immediately” rename the water to “Lake America.”
Carney framed this move as part of broader changes taking place in the US.
“We know that America is changing. Their trade relationships, their foreign policies, their national monuments, their hydronyms,” Carney wrote.
“Canadians also know that naming reality means calling it Lake Ontario – then, now and always,” he added.
The development comes amid a deepening trade dispute between the two close trading partners.
Trade talks broke down last week and new 50% U.S. tariffs on about $20 billion of Canadian imports came into effect on Saturday.
Trump has separately threatened additional 50% tariffs on Canadian auto imports and steel starting Jan. 1.
Canada plans retaliatory measures per dollar starting September 8.
Other Canadian politicians have also pushed back on Trump’s renaming of the lake.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford has said the wetland will “always” be Canada’s Lake Ontario.
Industry Minister Mélanie Joly was also unequivocal: “We will always call it Lake Ontario. Period.”
