US President Donald Trump on Thursday signed an executive order directing the federal government to call Lake Ontario “Lake America”, as trade tension with Canada increased after the collapse of negotiations between the two neighbours.
Mr Trump told reporters that his administration would also raise tariffs on Canadian vehicles and other goods.
“The name change into Lake of America was something I've been thinking about for a long time,” he said. "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.”
Mr Trump has already renamed the Gulf of Mexico the “Gulf of America”, which drew criticism and ridicule in Mexico and elsewhere.
It also prompted a wider debate over whether a US president could, through executive action, change the name of a body of water shared with another country.
Other countries have ignored the name change, but US tech companies including Google have updated their maps so US users see the Gulf of America instead of the Gulf of Mexico. As of Thursday afternoon, Lake Ontario's name had not been changed online.
The name change came after three days of intensive trade talks last week failed to produce an agreement or stave off US tariffs. Washington and Ottawa blamed each other for the breakdown.
The US moved to impose 50 per cent tariffs on $20 billion worth of Canadian products, while Prime Minister Mark Carney said Canada will retaliate "dollar for dollar" with tariffs on US goods. Mr Trump has also imposed a 50 per cent tariff on vehicles and car parts from Canada.
He said the US economy had lost $60 billion a year over the past 15 years by “carrying Canada”.
“We're going to be doing tariffs on their cars that are coming in substantial level, because we want to make the cars here,” Mr Trump said. “We don't want to carry. They can make their own cars that they want, and they can continue to make their cars for Canada.”
The new tariffs cover hundreds of Canadian goods, including plywood, liquor, electrical equipment and hockey gear, and affect about 5 per cent of Canada’s exports to the US.
Mr Carney said Canada would respond “dollar for dollar”, on US steel, dairy, appliances, agricultural equipment, pulp and paper, electronics and other goods.
