U.S. President Donald Trump said he is considering changing the name of Lake Ontario amid the ongoing trade dispute between the U.S. and Canada.
Trump made the comment in a post on Truth Social on Tuesday morning.
“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 wrote.
“Thank you for your attention to this matter! President DONALD J. TRUMP.”
It would not be the first time Trump renamed a body of water. The U.S. president previously renamed the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America, a change that is now reflected on Google Maps.
In a post to social media on Tuesday afternoon, the official White House account shared an image of a Lego map of the United States featuring Lake Ontario renamed ‘Lake America.’
The map did not include Canada but rather appears to depict it as another body of water.
The U.S. president’s latest threat comes after he and Ontario Premier Doug Ford hurled a string of insults back and forth on Monday.
Responding to the possible renaming of the lake, a calmer Ford told Bloomberg TV on Tuesday afternoon that it’s up to Trump if he wants to change it.
“I know Canadians. We’re always going to call it Lake Ontario,” Ford said.
The premier added that more than a dozen states will be impacted if the U.S. stops doing business with Ontario.
“He’s saying he won’t do a lot of business with Ontario. Well, let me remind the president: nine million Americans wake up every single morning to produce a product, a widget, or a service for Ontario.”
Monday’s bitter exchange between the two leaders began when the U.S. president vowed to increase tariffs to 50 per cent on all Canadian cars, trucks, automotive parts, and steel on New Year’s Day.
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Confronted with the news during a radio interview on Monday morning, Ford responded, “He can kiss my ass as far as I’m concerned.”
Trump proceeded to launch a personal attack against Ford, referring to him as “the less charismatic, intelligent, and overall unimpressive brother of the late, great, Rob Ford.”
In the same post, Trump called the premier’s comments “lots of bluster” before noting that Canada “couldn’t survive” without the U.S.
He then referred to Prime Minister Mark Carney and Ford as “Governor Carney and his flunky, Ford.”
“Someone should get these clowns to ‘fall in line,’ or the consequences for Canada will be far WORSE!” Trump wrote.
Speaking at a news conference in Hamilton later in the day, Ford continued to lash out at Trump, calling him a “loser,” “a bully,” and the “king of bankruptcies.”
“I have been in this game a lot longer than he has. I got skin on me like an alligator, and you think an insult from him hurts me? Well, bring it on buddy, I am ready. Bring it on,” Ford said.
“We’re going to fight with everything we have, and, you know something, I have more courage, more brains in my baby toe than he has in his whole body.”
Talks between Canada and the U.S. on a new trade deal broke down over the weekend, with Carney blaming “last-minute changes in the U.S. proposed terms” that he said were “unfair, uneconomic, and called into question the reliability of any deal.”
The U.S. introduced a new round of 50 per cent tariffs on Canadian exports on Saturday, targeting goods worth $28 billion.
At a news conference on Tuesday, Canada announced dollar for dollar retaliatory tariffs on hundreds of items from the U.S., including perfume and cosmetics and smartphones.
Speaking at the news conference, Industry Minister Melanie Joly responded to Trump’s comment on the shared lake, stating that Canadians will “always call it Lake Ontario,” she said.
“While all these shenanigans are happening, we’ll just be smart, we’ll be strategic, and we’ll fight back,” she said.
Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine responded on social media to Trump’s post about Lake Ontario, saying “with American troops being killed and injured overseas, and our families and businesses paying more for everything because of idiotic tariffs and wars, this is what Dear Leader is fixated on!”
Mississauga Mayor Carolyn Parrish says Trump’s Lake Ontario threat is a “bit of a pipe dream.”
“We’re not going to take that sitting down. We’re going to fight back” she told host Todd van der Heyden on CTV News Channel on Tuesday.
“I don’t think it’s ever going to happen. We would never tolerate that. We’re more concerned about the trade difficulties we’re having right now than we are with name-calling and changing the name of lakes.”
‘Lake Ontario will remain Lake Ontario’: NY county exec
An executive of a New York state county located along Lake Ontario’s south shore said he is against renaming the body of water.
“There are plenty of things that actually deserve our attention, renaming Lake Ontario isn’t one of them,” Monroe County Executive Adam J. Bello said in a statement.
“So, for the record, Lake Ontario will remain Lake Ontario. Ontario Beach Park will remain Ontario Beach Park.”
Bello said Trump should focus his attention on making life affordable and protecting their health care.
“Lake Ontario’s name is doing just fine.”
‘It got a little personal’
After the series of heated exchanges between Trump and Ford on Monday, Ford told CNN that the temperature needs to come down.
“It got a little personal yesterday,” he told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer on Tuesday.
In his interview on the U.S. network, Ford returned to some familiar talking points, emphasizing the importance of a strong partnership between the two countries.
“It’s time to get back to the table and let’s negotiate a fair deal because it is hurting the U.S., it is hurting Canada,” he said.
He called Trump’s threats to stop doing business with Ontario “a lot of rhetoric,” noting that the province is America’s third largest trading partner globally.
“What’s happening now is we are seeing a decrease in Canadians buying American vehicles,” he said.
“That is going to hurt the American people.”
He described Trump’s attack on Canada as “unprovoked.”
“I do not understand why he wants to attack Canada non-stop,” Ford said.
He added that he “can’t roll over” while the U.S. president threatens Canada’s “sovereignty” and its businesses.
“We are stronger working together rather than attacking each other,” he said.
He did not rule out taking additional retaliatory measures, such as cutting off electricity the province supplies to some U.S. states, but said he would “rather send more electricity” if a fair deal can be negotiated.
Ford has previously called for a tough response to tariffs, urging Ottawa to consider measures similar to the ones that were announced by federal ministers on Tuesday.
At Monday’s news conference, Ford said Carney has his full support in walking away from a “bad deal” that would have “hurt Canadian workers and undermined Canadian sovereignty.”
With files from CP24’s Chris Fox, The Canadian Press, and CTV News
