Trump threatens to rename Lake Ontario 'Lake America' as trade tensions escalate with Canada

U.S. President Donald Trump said Tuesday he is giving "serious consideration" to renaming Lake Ontario as "Lake America," a threat that came amid escalating trade tensions and a public feud with Ontario Premier Doug Ford.

"The United States is giving serious consideration to changing the name of Lake Ontario to Lake America in that we don't expect to doing much business with Ontario any longer," Trump posted on Truth Social early Tuesday morning.

The post follows a day of heated rhetoric. Ford told Newstalk 1010 on Monday that Trump could "kiss my ass" after the U.S. president threatened to raise tariffs on Canadian automobiles, trucks, and auto parts, as well as steel. Trump responded by calling Ford a "flunky" and comparing him unfavourably to his late brother, former Toronto mayor Rob Ford. Ford doubled down during a news conference in Hamilton, calling Trump a "dictator" and a "bully."

Trump's threat to rename the lake echoes his unilateral action last year when he issued an executive order to rename the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America.

Lake Ontario is governed jointly by Canada and the United States through a series of treaties, commissions, and bi-national agreements. Because the lake is shared, neither country can unilaterally rename it without the other's consent. The name "Lake Ontario" is recognized internationally, appears in federal legislation on both sides of the border, and is embedded in treaties dating back more than a century. If Trump wanted to rename the American side informally, he would have to go through the U.S. Board on Geographic Names (BGN), a federal body responsible for naming geographic features.

The lake's name comes from the Haudenosaunee word Ontarí:io, often translated as "great lake" or "beautiful water." For thousands of years before European arrival, the land was home to Haudenosaunee, Anishinaabe, Huron-Wendat, Cree, Algonquin, and other First Nations. The province was named for Lake Ontario when it was created at Confederation. More than nine million people now live along Lake Ontario's Canadian shoreline.