Home · Politics · Aug 25 archive

Trump threatens to change Lake Ontario's name as trade war with Canada heats up

Confirmed

Politics Desk

Donald Trump (Wikidata P18)
Photo: Daniel Torok / Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)
Lake Ontario (Wikidata P18)
Photo: NASA / Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)
File:CONANT(1898) p239 Crossing Lake Ontario in a canoe.jpg
Wikimedia Commons (Public domain). File: CONANT(1898) p239 Crossing Lake Ontario in a canoe.jpg
File:Lake Ontario Dusk.jpg
Photo: Keith Pomakis / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

"The United States is giving serious consideration to changing the name of Lake Ontario to Lake America," Mr. Trump said in a post on Truth Social Tuesday morning, claiming the U.S. doesn't expect to be "doing much business with Ontario any longer.

The apparent consideration comes after Mr. Trump announced as he returned to office in early 2025 that he planned to change the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the "Gulf of America," and he later signed an executive order to that effect.

More from CBS News Kashkari: Inflation could be extended as Canada fight goes on Why Trump's Canada tariffs are likely to have a modest impact on prices Full transcript of "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan," Aug. 23, 2026 Kyle Kirkwood wins Freedom 250 Grand Prix IndyCar race in Washington, D.C. Go deeper with The Free Press This Week in Canada: Your Ambassador Is Persona Non Grata Why Canada’s Reagan Video Spooked Trump In: Donald Trump Mark Carney Canada © 2026 CBS Interactive Inc.

This video can not be played Watch: Canada will negotiate if US has the "right attitude", says Mark Carney Canadian officials have said the US introduced last-minute demands that were "unacceptable", including a clause limiting which countries Canada could sign trade deals with.

The White House, in a statement, said Canada “has been ripping off the United States for decades,” and that Trump “is done letting them get away with it. The name change was applied to federal references, but other nations are not required to recognize the name.

In a speech delivered in January from the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Carney caught the world’s attention when he said the postwar economic order dominated by the United States had reached its end, warning that Canada and similar middle powers “cannot live within the lie of mutual benefit through integration when integration becomes the source of your subordination.

On Monday, Ford said that Canada should consider harsher measures and warned that Ontario could cut off electricity to the United States; Ontario supplies electricity for Michigan, Minnesota, and New York. “Ohio and Michigan — which both feature close Senate races — will suffer from reduced trade in autos and auto parts,” said Kimberly Clausing, a professor of tax law and policy at the UCLA School of Law.

“Trump clearly has festering anger at Carney for his full-throated defense of an international rules-based order at Davos back in January,” said Kenneth Rogoff, an economist and a professor at Harvard. “U.S. sellers and exporters, such as farmers, will have lower sales in Canada, and some sectors of the economy will hurt badly and bear the brunt of the pain,” Sohn said.

What's confirmed

What's still developing

Sources