Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney criticized U.S. President Donald Trump's decision to rename Lake Ontario - the smallest of the five Great Lakes located on the border of the two countries - to "Lake America." The order to change the name of the body of water was signed by the American leader at the White House on Thursday, July 27, just a few days after the collapse of a trade deal with Canada. "We are immediately changing the name of Lake Ontario to 'Lake America,'" Trump said to reporters. He explained his decision by stating that "Canadian officials treated U.S. representatives very poorly." Carney reacted to the American leader's decision. "This name has been in use for over 400 years; it emerged long before the formation of the Canadian Confederation and the adoption of the U.S. Declaration of Independence. We know that America is changing. Its trade relations, foreign policy, national monuments, and even hydronyms are changing. Canadians know that to call things by their names means to call this lake Lake Ontario. That has been the case, that is the case, and that will always be the case," the Canadian Prime Minister wrote on his social media page X. ## ## Trump Renamed the Lake After the Collapse of the Trade Deal and Canada's Retaliatory Tariffs Trump first announced plans to rename Lake Ontario on August 25 - three days after the U.S. imposed a 50% tariff on a range of goods from Canada due to the collapse of negotiations for a new trade deal: among other things, on wine, furniture, dairy products, cement, clothing, fishing rods, and hockey equipment. Immediately after this, Carney announced retaliatory tariffs of up to 50% on a range of goods from the U.S. According to media reports, they will affect sectors such as dairy, metallurgy, household appliances, pulp and paper, electronics, and others. The tariffs are expected to take effect on September 8. Both sides blamed each other for the collapse of the trade deal. Carney stated that an agreement could not be reached due to the last-minute changes proposed by the U.S. that were "unfair, non-market, and called into question the reliability of any deal." U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, who participated in the negotiations, said that Ottawa "refused to finalize the trade deal on the terms agreed upon earlier that week." ## ## Trump Repeatedly Proposes Renaming Geographic Features and Institutions Since the beginning of his second term, Trump has repeatedly proposed renaming major geographic features and various institutions. In January 2025, at his initiative, the Gulf of Mexico was renamed the American Gulf, and the Denali Mountains in Alaska were renamed back to McKinley. The first decision in Mexico was criticized, noting that the previous name had been used in international navigation for many centuries. In December 2025, the name of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington was supplemented with Trump's name. In May 2026, a court ruled to remove the current U.S. president's name from the title. The judge justified his verdict, in particular, by stating that the name was assigned to the center by the U.S. Congress and "only Congress can change it."
