President Trump Changes Name of Lake Ontario to Lake America
President Donald Trump signed an executive order Thursday, renaming Lake Ontario Lake America amid trade tensions with Canada.
The move comes less than a week after prospects of a trade deal with Canada collapsed and days after he announced a 50 percent tariff on Canadian autos and steel set to kick in next year.
"We'regoingtobechangingthenameofLakeOntarioeffectiveimmediatelytoLakeAmerica.That'sgoingtotakeplacerightnowasIsigntheorder," Trump said.
The order specifically instructs Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum to update the lake's name in the Geographic Names Information Service. On Tuesday, the White House shared a video where Trump crossed out Lake Ontario on a map and replaced it with Lake America.
When asked what message the name change sends, Trump said there was "no message" he was sending to Canada, but proceeded to say America's neighbor to the north has long been "ripping" the United States off.