Trump threatens to change name of Lake Ontario as trade tensions with Canada escalate

A map showing President Trump's proposed new name for Lake Ontario.

President Donald Trump on Tuesday suggested he's considering changing the name of one of the Great Lakes to one with more U.S. flavor as he spars with Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney over tariffs. 

Trump's move comes after he threatened to raise tariffs on automobiles and automotive parts originating in Canada to 50% beginning on January 1, 2027. On Tuesday, Trump suggested he might change the name of Lake Ontario, which straddles a portion of the northern border between the U.S. and Canada, to Lake America, a potential move that would be reminiscent of his renaming the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America when he returned to office in 2025.

"The United States is giving serious consideration to changing the name of Lake Ontario to Lake America in that we don't expect to [be] doing much business with Ontario any longer," Trump said in response to Ontario premier Doug Ford telling the president to "kiss my ass" a day earlier. 

Trump later posted a modified image of a map on Truth Social showing the words Lake Ontario crossed out and the words Lake America in gold lettering replacing the name. In a separate post, Trump said, "Canada has been 'Ripping Off' the U.S.A. for decades. They have been charging our Farmers 400% Tariffs, and more. They have driven many wonderful U.S. companies out of business. For 10 years they wouldn’t certify Gulfstream Jets, until I got involved. They wanted 100% of the market for Gulfstream’s Canadian competitor. I deal with many countries, and Canada is easily the most difficult and unreasonable. They feel entitled, but they are not a State, and will be entitled no longer!"

He added, "Over the last 10 years, the United States lost, on average, 60 Billion Dollars a year with Canada."

The escalation in rhetoric comes after trade talks between the two countries collapsed late Friday night when a deal appeared to be imminent. 

“We offered them the best access to the United States of any country in the world — you know, they wanted more,” U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer told CNBC on Monday about the collapsed talks. "I don't know if it was political for them. It certainly doesn't make economic sense, but perhaps for political reasons they have some by-elections coming up. I don't know, but they came in and they wanted more, and we weren't prepared to do that," Geer added.

Carney has not shied away from explosive rhetoric saying over the weekend that Canada is "at war" with the U.S. over tariffs. And on Tuesday, Canada retaliated by imposing tariffs on roughly $20 billion in U.S. goods, including steel, dairy products, appliances and farm equipment, according to The Associated Press.