Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has sharply rejected US President Donald Trump’s executive order renaming Lake Ontario to "Lake America" affirming that Canadians will continue using the waterway's historic name.
The diplomatic spat erupted on Thursday after President Trump signed a directive in the Oval Office aiming to immediately change the lake's name on US maps. The unilateral move comes amid rapidly deteriorating relations and escalating trade tensions between Washington and Ottawa following the recent collapse of bilateral trade negotiations and the mutual imposition of severe retaliatory tariffs.
Taking to the social media platform X, Carney dismissed the renaming attempt. He highlighted that "Lake Ontario" originates from the Indigenous Wendat word Ontari’io which translates to "the lake is beautiful and the lake is big".
Carney emphasized the name's deep historical roots with noting it has been in use for over 400 years predating both the Canadian Confederation and the US Declaration of Independence.
“We know that America is changing. Their trading relationships, their foreign policies, their national monuments, their hydronyms" Carney stated. "Canadians also know that naming reality means calling it Lake Ontario then, now and always".
While Trump's executive order mandates the "Lake America" name change for US federal government purposes and it holds no authority over Canada, international geographic boards or private mapmakers. The unprecedented dispute underscores the growing friction between the two long-standing North American allies.
