Trump Renames Lake Ontario to Lake America Amid Canada-Tariff Dispute
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President Trump is escalating his ongoing dispute with Canada over tariffs with a new executive order renaming Lake Ontario, which sits between New York and Canada, to Lake America.
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HuffPostDonald Trump’s decision to rename Lake Ontario as “Lake America” is apparently working out great ― for Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, that is.
BBC NewsPublished US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order seeking to rename Lake Ontario to Lake America.
ABC NewsThe name change is "effective immediately," Trump said. President Donald Trump on Thursday signed an executive order changing the name of Lake Ontario to "Lake America" "effective immediately." This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
New York Times‘Lake America’? These Upstate New Yorkers Aren’t Letting Go of ‘Ontario.’ President Trump on Thursday signed an order rechristening Lake Ontario as Lake America, but businesses around Niagara Falls say they won’t be changing their tune.
The Guardian USThis is not an isolated embarrassment: the Lake Ontario name change follows the president’s rebranding of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America last year. “We have a gulf and we have a lake – now all we need is an ocean. Maybe we’ll have to change the name of the Atlantic and/or the Pacific,” Trump told reporters.
The Daily WireIn response, Trump declared he was going to change the name of Lake Ontario to Lake Screw You, Canada, whereupon the Canadians broke down and said that if we would just continue to name the lake after them, they would do anything we wanted, so we told them to stop talking with those stupid accents, because it’s just annoying. The deal should be finalized as soon as the White House can find someone who speaks French.
Fox NewsTrump signed an order on Thursday renaming one of the five Great Lakes "Lake America" amid an ongoing trade dispute with Canada.
VoxWelcome to The Logoff: Donald Trump says he’s renaming Lake Ontario. Let’s talk about it.
PBS NewsHourNews Wrap: Trump signs order to rename Lake Ontario as Lake America In our news wrap Thursday, President Trump signed an order to rename Lake Ontario as Lake America as part of his dispute with Canada, FAA officials are reportedly moving to fire two air traffic controllers who allegedly left work early on the night of a deadly crash at LaGuardia Airport and an ICE officer facing charges related to a shooting in Minneapolis was released from a Texas jail.
Associated PressThe leader of the Seneca Nation in upstate New York is criticizing President Donald Trump’s decision to rename Lake Ontario as “Lake America,” saying it violates a more than 225-year-old treaty and shows a “blatant disrespect” for the Indigenous people who gave it its name in the first place.
USA TodayWASHINGTON – President Donald Trump sailed into a fight with Canada by designating a new name for Lake Ontario, but political observers questioned how long the political storm would distract from the six-month mark of the war in Iran.
NBC NewsNightly News Now Playing Trump orders Lake Ontario renamed ‘Lake America’ 01:25 UP NEXT Americans missing in deadly flood disaster 02:08 Patient battles insurance over coverage for tumor removal 03:28 Jury deliberates in Lindsay Clancy murder trial 02:20 Marine One communication breakdown 02:17 New hearing in Idaho college murders case 01:29
Washington PostOn Lake Ontario — er, America — sailors have no plans to change course The Trump-ordered name change was the talk of the docks on both shores of Lake Ontario. But neither American nor Canadian sailors seemed to be taking it too seriously.
RealClearPoliticsAn executive order to rename Lake Ontario is a bandage on a wounded ego, not the power move Trump seems to think it is. Read Full Article ⟶
The HillSeneca Nation requests reversal on ‘Lake America’ executive order Seneca Nation President J. Conrad Seneca called Friday for President Trump to rescind his order to rename Lake Ontario as “Lake America,” citing a 225-year-old treaty between Native Americans and the U.S. government.  Seneca said in a statement that this name change, which President Trump authorized in a Thursday executive order, violated the terms of…
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“Trump’s technique of distraction often works, but a spat with Canada about renaming Lake Ontario isn’t big enough to work for long,” Larry Sabato, a political science professor and director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia, told USA TODAY. “Today Trump hit the 40% mark of his term. That’s a number his approval rating may never reach again.”
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The Guardian USA US president ordering the name change of a Great Lake in order to antagonize one of its closest allies would have been headline news for weeks in a normal timeline. Now it’s just another Thursday. Still, this is more than a silly stunt that both Canada and the governor of New York have made clear they are going to ignore. It’s a glaring demonstration of just how desperate, isolated and out of ideas Trump is. His approval ratings have hit a new low, sliding 14 points from 47% at the start of his second term to 33% now amid rising costs. The Iran war, which was sold as a “little excursion” that would only last a few weeks has hit the six-month mark, and there isn’t a decent off-ramp in sight.
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“Let’s just call it Lake Natalie, so we know you’ll start protecting our Great Lakes,” Dingell quipped on X.
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Fox News"Let’s just call it Lake Natalie so we know you’ll start protecting our Great Lakes," she wrote on X.
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"Canada has been ripping us off for a long time on trade," Trump said Thursday. "Very sadly, even the military, you know, we defend Canada for nothing. We don't get anything. They don't pay us to defend Canada."
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NPR NewsHe went to blame Canada for the renaming. "We deal with a lot of people, and 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 explained.
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"And I just renamed Lake Michigan Lake Wisconsin. See, I can sign napkins that say things, too," Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers, a Democrat, wrote on X alongside a video of himself writing "Lake Wisconsin" on a McDonald’s paper napkin and signing the bottom.
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HuffPost“And I just renamed Lake Michigan Lake Wisconsin,” Evers joked alongside a link to an ABC News report on the “Lake America” announcement. “See, I can sign napkins that say things, too.”
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Republican Vermont Gov. Phil Scott called the name change "petty and disappointing."
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Fox NewsVermont Gov. Phil Scott, a Republican, called Trump's move to rename the lake over the trade feud "petty and disappointing."
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The conflict might boil down to Trump’s desire to make Canada the 51st state, despite Canada’s consistent rejection of the idea.
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Associated PressTrump has argued that Canada has been ripping off the U.S. on trade and military issues and suggested Canada should be absorbed as the 51st state.
VoxThat doesn’t explain the trade war itself, though. Unfortunately, when my colleague, noted Canadian resident Zack Beauchamp, went looking earlier this week, he couldn’t find an explanation either. As he writes, there’s absolutely no constituency for this fight — other than Trump’s own imperial desires as he keeps joking-but-maybe-not-joking about making Canada the 51st state.
10 details only one outlet reported
Independent claims that didn't surface elsewhere in our corpus. Treat as supplementary — not corroborated across outlets.
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01 The Guardian US Give it a few more months of the disastrous war in Iran and a bruised Trump may well make good on that threat: the man will do anything to distract from his failings.
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02 Fox News A House Democrat's jab at one of President Donald Trump's most loyal aides prompted a firestorm on social media.
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03 NPR News "We have a gulf, and we have a lake, now all we need is an ocean," Trump told reporters at the Oval Office signing.
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04 Vox This story appeared in The Logoff, a daily newsletter that helps you stay informed about the Trump administration without letting political news take over your life. Subscribe here.
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05 NBC News Now Playing Trump orders Lake Ontario renamed ‘Lake America’ 01:25 UP NEXT Americans missing in deadly flood disaster 02:08 Patient battles insurance over coverage for tumor removal 03:28 Jury deliberates in Lindsay Clancy murder trial 02:20 Marine One communication breakdown 02:17 New hearing in Idaho college murders case 01:29 FDA approves breakthrough pancreatic cancer treatment 00:55 American tourists among hundreds missing after deadly floods in Nepal 01:43 Tim Curry, star of ‘Rocky Horror Picture Show,’ dies at 80 01:39 New details on Dolly Parton’s death as tributes pour in 02:20 Bodycam video released from arrest of 49ers owner in prostitution sting 01:29 Meta to pay $18 billion to settle child harm lawsuit 01:53 Hundreds evacuated as Texas wildfire explodes 02:02 Hero lifeguard rushes in to save own family 01:15 Police rush into Uber to chase fleeing suspect 01:36 49ers Owner Arrested in Prostitution Sting 01:47 Mystery unfolding underground in New York City 01:19 People in Gary, Indiana without power for 13 days 01:52 In win for Trump, Supreme Court backs restrictions on mail-in ballots 02:12 Ten of thousands evacuated from Nevada wildfire 02:10
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06 Associated Press Seneca said the renaming violated the 1794 Treaty of Canandaigua, which was signed by President George Washington and the Haudenosaunee confederacy promising perpetual peace and friendship. The Seneca are one of the six nations of the confederacy, also known as the Iroquois Confederacy.
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07 USA Today A GOP governor called the name change 'petty' and a conservative magazine writer called it a 'stupid publicity stunt.'
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08 BBC News Canada, however, does not have to recognise name changes made by other countries and officials dismissed the idea in remarks earlier this week.
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09 The Daily Wire Let’s begin with the war. This week, the administration announced it was going to unleash financial hell on our enemies by cutting them off from every possible source of income. Then, if that works in Canada, we might try it in Iran as well.
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10 HuffPost The navigational service MapQuest reminded everyone of its existence Thursday when the company led a rebellion of sorts against President Donald Trump’s executive order renaming Lake Ontario to Lake America.
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