Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has rejected Donald Trump’s move to rename Lake Ontario to “Lake America,” pointing to the lake’s Indigenous name and centuries of history.
“The name Lake Ontario comes from the Wendat word Ontari’io, which, appropriately, means ‘the lake is beautiful, the lake is big,” Carney wrote in a Thursday post on X.
Carney said the name is more than 400 years old, predating both Canadian Confederation and the US Declaration of Independence.
Carney’s comments came as Trump signed an executive order Thursday signed an executive order that he said would “immediately” rename the body of water to “Lake America.”
Carney framed the move as part of broader changes taking place in the US.
“We know that America is changing. Their trading relationships, their foreign policies, their national monuments, their hydronyms,” Carney wrote.
“Canadians also know that naming reality means calling it Lake Ontario — then, now and always,” he added.
The development comes amid a deepening trade dispute between the two close trading partners.
Trade negotiations broke down last week, and new 50% US tariffs on about $20 billion of Canadian imports took effect Saturday.
Trump has separately threatened additional 50% tariffs on Canadian automotive imports and steel beginning January 1.
Canada is planning for dollar-for-dollar retaliation beginning September 8.
Other Canadian politicians have also pushed back on Trump’s renaming of the lake.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford has said the body of water will “always” be Lake Ontario in Canada.
Industry Minister Mélanie Joly was similarly unequivocal: “We’ll always call it Lake Ontario. Period.”
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