The president of the United States, Donald Trump, signed an executive order this Thursday to change the name of Lake Ontario to Lake America, as he already proposed days ago, in the midst of the trade crisis with Canada due to Washington’s intention to apply tariffs to its northern neighbors.
“As you already know, we took something called the ‘Gulf of Mexico’. We changed it. And now it is commonly known as the ‘Gulf of America. We have a gulf and a lake. Now we only need an ocean. Maybe we have to change the name of the Atlantic or the Pacific. Maybe we change both,” he declared after signing the decree in the presence of journalists in the Oval Office.
The tenant of the White House has complied with his statements on Tuesday, when he aimed to take this step, claiming that he did not plan to “continue doing much business with Ontario.” “They believe they have the right to everything and we cannot allow it,” he has now said about the Canadian authorities.
Mark Carney’s Executive then decided not to respond to a “deliberate” measure, according to his Minister of Commerce, Dominic LeBlanc.
The announcement comes in the midst of a clash between Washington and Ottawa over the failure of recent trade negotiations between both countries that saw the entry into force of 50% tariffs on Canadian products and when Trump maintains that he will raise tariffs on cars, trucks, automotive components and steel of Canadian origin to 50% as of January 1, 2027.
The Government of Canada, for its part, has responded by announcing a package of tariff measures that will come into force as of September 8, which include taxes between 15% and 50% on products derived from steel and aluminum, as well as basic items such as dairy, fish or seafood from the neighboring country.