What’s in a name? Quite a lot when it comes to a trade war.
President Donald Trump has initiated a new escalation growing trade struggle between the US and Canada by threatening to change the name of one of the Great Lakes.
“The United States is seriously considering changing the name Lake Ontario to Lake America as we do not expect to do much business with Ontario anymore,” Trump said in a message on Truth Social on Tuesday morning.
The smallest of the Great Lakes, the lake sits on the US-Canada border, with Canada’s largest city, Toronto, on its northern shore.
On Tuesday, Lake Ontario became the latest battleground in the two countries’ row over trade.
After Canada withdrew from trade talks last week, the US imposed a new set of tariffs on its northern neighbor this weekend.
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The The fight escalated on Monday when Trump threatened a plan to impose another 50% tariffs on Canadian products. The new tariffs would apply to trucks, auto parts and steel and would take effect Jan. 1, Trump said.
“Canada has been plundering the United States of America for years,” he wrote on Truth Social. “Canada will no longer be treated like a state!”
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney threatened similar retaliation and said Canada would match US tariffs “dollar-for-dollar” from September 8, with another announcement planned for Tuesday.
From the Gulf of America to Lake America
For non-US users of Apple and Google Maps, the body of water south of the US is referred to as ‘Gulf of Mexico (Gulf of America)’. Apple cards
If Trump follows through on his threat to rename Lake Ontario to Lake America, it will be the second time he has tried to change the name of a body of water.
In January 2025, on the first day of his second term, Trump signed an executive order renaming the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America. The change was reflected later Google and Apple Maps in the US, while users outside the US see the area as ‘Gulf of Mexico (Gulf of America)’.
The name Ontario is derived from Ontarí’io, a word meaning “great lake” in the language of the indigenous Wyandot people.
