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Trump proposes renaming Lake Ontario to 'Lake America'

newsAug 27, 202699111

With his trade dispute with Canada escalating, President Donald Trump floated renaming Lake Ontario to "Lake America," posting Tuesday on Truth Social that the United States was "giving serious consideration" to the change because Washington does not expect to do much business with Ontario anymore. The suggestion came hours before Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney announced reciprocal tariffs on about $20 billion in U.S. goods, after the Trump administration had imposed 50 percent tariffs on $20 billion of Canadian exports. The White House later shared a toy Lego map that labeled the Gulf of Mexico "Gulf of America," part of a broader push by Trump to rebrand geographic names. Ontario residents and Canadian officials pushed back, with Patricia Wiseman telling AP the idea would never happen and Canadians remaining attached to the lake's name. Legal and diplomatic experts note the U.S. can change how U.S. agencies refer to places but cannot compel Canada or people on either side of the border to adopt a new name. The episode highlighted how naming rhetoric has become entangled with the larger tariff showdown between Washington and Ottawa.

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