Washington DC [US] August 28 (ANI): US President Donald Trump has signed an Executive Order directing that the body of water currently known as Lake Ontario be officially renamed "Lake America", amid an escalating trade war with neighbouring Canada.
The order, signed at the White House on Thursday (local time), directed the US Secretary of the Interior, in coordination with the Board on Geographic Names, to take appropriate action within 30 days to rename the lake and update the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
"The body of water currently known as Lake Ontario is a tremendous asset to the United States and part of our Nation's heritage," the Executive Order stated
It further stated that the lake "has long been an integral asset to American exploration, settlement, commerce, and defense," citing its role in American trade, military logistics, shipping, manufacturing, agriculture and energy supply chains.
"In recognition of this flourishing economic resource and its critical importance to our Nation's economy and its people, I am directing that the Lake officially be renamed as Lake America," the order stated.
The Executive Order also stated that "The United States is the greatest protector of the Great Lakes, including the body of water currently known as Lake Ontario."
"Without the security and investment provided by the United States, this freshwater system would not be open for shipping, recreation, and responsible use to the same extent as it is today," it stated.
The order said the United States Coast Guard supplies "9 of the 11 ice breaking vessels on the Great Lakes" and that the United States has invested nearly USD 4 billion in protecting the Great Lakes freshwater ecosystem over the last decade, while Canada has invested "far less" in similar initiatives over the same period.
The order also highlighted the lake's role in the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Seaway system, stating that maritime commerce supports "hundreds of thousands of American jobs and billions of dollars in annual economic output, cargo value, and related business revenue."
Within 30 days of the order, the Secretary of the Interior, in coordination with the Board on Geographic Names, is directed to take appropriate actions to rename the body of water as "Lake America", bounded on the south and east by New York State and on the north, west and southwest by the Canadian province of Ontario.
The order further directed the Geographic Names Information System to be updated to reflect the renaming and remove references to Lake Ontario, consistent with applicable law. Federal government references to Lake Ontario, including on maps, contracts and other documents and communications, are also to reflect the new name.
Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the signing, Trump linked the move to his earlier renaming of the Gulf of Mexico.
"As you know, we took something called the Gulf of Mexico, we changed it and now it's very routinely the Gulf of America. So if you think about it, we have a gulf and we have a lake, now all we need is an ocean. So maybe we'll have to change the name of the Atlantic and/or the Pacific, maybe we'll change them both," Trump said.
Trump also criticised Canada and Canadian officials, saying, "The Canadian officials have treated us very badly. They're nasty people. They charge our farmers 400% tariffs. They've been doing it for a long time."
"And I had them figured out in my first term, and I did some pretty strong things and had it getting pretty good. And then the election was rigged, and now I'm coming back and doing it the way it... and finishing the job," he added.
"But they treat us very badly. Canada treats us very badly. I would say that of all countries, as you know, we have President Xi coming in a couple of weeks. Uh, we have a lot; we deal with a lot of people. People, oftentimes, they'll ask me, 'Who's the worst to deal with on trade?' And I said, 'That's easy, Canada.' They are the worst to trade, and they, they feel entitled, and just, we can't have that," Trump said.
The signing comes days after Trump first floated the proposal. On August 25, Trump said he was considering renaming Lake Ontario "Lake America", linking the proposal to US-Canada trade relations.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump said, "The United States is giving serious consideration to changing the name of Lake Ontario to Lake America in that we don't expect to be doing much business with Ontario any longer."
The body of water forms part of the five Great Lakes of North America and serves as a natural border between Ontario and New York State.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford had earlier dismissed Trump's proposal as "a lot of rhetoric" while highlighting Ontario's economic importance to the United States.
"I think it's a lot of rhetoric because we're the No. 1 customer to 17 states, No. 2 to 12 others. Ontario alone, if Ontario was just standalone, would be the third-largest trading partner in the world," Ford told CNN.
On August 25, Canada announced dollar-for-dollar, rate-for-rate counter-tariffs on US goods in response to Washington's decision to impose a 50 per cent tariff on USD 27.6 billion of Canadian goods, according to the Department of Finance Canada news release.
The escalation followed the United States imposing 50 per cent tariffs on roughly USD 20 billion worth of Canadian imports after the trade talks failed, with the measures affecting around five per cent of Canada's exports to the United States. (ANI)
Trump signs Executive Order renaming Lake Ontario as 'Lake America'
