Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney fired back at President Donald Trump‘s move to rename Lake Ontario to “Lake America” during the countries’ trade war, pointing to the centuries-old, Indigenous root of the lake’s original name.
“The name Lake Ontario comes from the Wendat word Ontari’io, which, appropriately, means ‘the lake is beautiful, the lake is big,'” Carney posted on X Thursday. “The name is more than 400 years old, predating both the Confederation of Canada and the Declaration of Independence of the United States of America.”
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Carney’s statement came just hours after Trump signed an executive order changing the name of the lake between New York and the Canadian province of Ontario to “Lake America,” though the decree is only binding for the U.S. government and has no hold on foreign governments, international bodies, or private companies. The push and pull over the smallest of the Great Lakes is the latest tension point between the two long-term allies as tensions escalate over their reciprocal tariffs.
“We know that America is changing. Their trading relationships, their foreign policies, their national monuments, their hydronyms. Canadians also know that naming reality means calling it Lake Ontario — then, now and always,” Carney said.
On Friday night, Canada and the United States announced their trade talks had crumbled after negotiators could not reach a deal, sending the Trump administration’s 50% tariffs on about $20 billion worth of Canadian goods into effect on Saturday. Carney then announced that Canada would be placing “dollar-for-dollar” retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods, the only other country besides China to do so.
TRUMP SIGNS EXECUTIVE ORDER TO RENAME LAKE ONTARIO TO LAKE AMERICA
Canadian Finance Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne announced Canada’s retaliatory tariffs, effective Sep. 8, on Tuesday, calling them a “proportionate, targeted, and strategic” response. Also on Tuesday, Trump floated the idea of changing the lake’s name on Truth Social before signing the executive order on Thursday.
“Canada has been ripping us off for a long time on trade,” Trump said on Thursday. “Very sadly, even the military. You know, we defend Canada for nothing. We don’t get anything. They don’t pay us to defend Canada, but we defend Canada, and they understand that.”
