Carney says Lake Ontario will not become 'Lake America'

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said Lake Ontario will continue to be called by that name after US President Donald Trump said he was renaming it as "Lake America."

"The name is more than 400 years old, predating both the Confederation of Canada and the Declaration of Independence of the United States of America," Mr Carney said on X.

"Canadians also know that naming reality means calling it Lake Ontario - then, now and always."

Mr Trump signed an order in the White House in a move that comes amid a spiraling trade war between the world's largest economy and its northern neighbour.

"We're going to be changing the name of Lake Ontario effective immediately to Lake America," the 80-year-old Republican told reporters in the Oval Office.

"The Canadian officials have treated us very badly. They're nasty people."

It comes as Canada's top negotiator in US trade talks sounded a positive note on Washington's position regarding French language and Canadian culture, as Ottawa separately exempted seafood products from planned counter-tariffs.

"The lake change, Lake of America, was something I've been thinking about for a long time, actually. As you know, we took something called the Gulf of Mexico, we changed it, and now it's very routinely the Gulf of America," Mr Trump said.

"So, 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. Maybe we'll change them both."

Canada did not immediately comment but is unlikely to accept the renaming of Lake Ontario, the smallest of the five Great Lakes by surface area, which borders Canada's Ontario province and New York state.

US-Canada trade talks collapsed at the eleventh hour last week, with Mr Trump's tariffs taking effect on Saturday.

Canada responded with tit-for-tat tariffs on Tuesday, with its Prime Minister saying: "You're at war when you get attacked. We got attacked."

The same day, Mr Trump announced that he was giving "serious consideration" to changing the name to Lake America.

He then posted a TikTok video late yesterday saying that he intended to do so after all.

The name change - which Canada is unlikely to accept - mirrors Mr Trump's changing of the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America in January 2025.

That change obliged the US federal government to refer to the gulf by the new designation, although Mexico has rejected any move to rename it and it lacks international recognition.

While Lake Ontario shares its name with the Canadian province, the name itself is derived from the indigenous Huron word "Ontari'io," which means "great lake" or "beautiful water," according to the National Museum of the Great Lakes.

Toronto, Canada's largest city, sits on its northwestern shore.

During his second presidential term, Mr Trump has irked a series of allies with his outlandish territorial claims, including that Canada should become the 51st US state.

Mr Trump has also laid claim to Greenland, an autonomous territory of NATO ally Denmark, and talked about making Venezuela a state following the US capture of its leader Nicolas Maduro.

In recent days, he has also said that he will make the Strait of Hormuz between Iran and Oman a US territory, despite the fact that the war with Tehran remains ongoing.