The President of the United States proposed, Wednesday September 2, to rename the Strait of Hormuz “Trump Strait”, a few days after signing a decree to change the name of Lake Ontario, located on the Canadian border, and give it that of “Lake America”.
“Now that we have control, should we rename the Strait of Hormuz ‘Trump Strait’? »writes Donald Trump on his platform, Truth Social.
The White House then released a map on social media where the seaway is referred to as the “Detroit Trump” with the comment “Sounds good”.
This strategic maritime passage has been blocked by Tehran since the start of the war, triggered on February 28 by Israeli-American strikes in Iran. In response, the United States imposed a blockade of Iranian ports.
In mid-August, the American president published a map of the strait presenting it as a “new American territory”repeating an idea that he had expressed a few days earlier in a tone that suggested a joke. It was not the first time that Donald Trump, faced with a foreign policy obstacle, launched a surprising or threatening suggestion of annexation of a foreign territory.
Since his return to power, he has threatened to make Canada the “fifty-first” American state, to seize Greenland and even mentioned taking control of the Gaza Strip, without taking action. In January 2025, he also renamed the Gulf of Mexico “Gulf of America”, a decision contested by Mexico.
His remark regarding the Strait of Hormuz comes as a peaceful end to the conflict with Iran seems distant. In mid-June, the two belligerents signed a memorandum of understanding supposed to pave the way for a lasting settlement, which resulted in nothing.
After a month of calm, hostilities have just resumed with American bombings near the Strait of Hormuz and Iranian reprisals against American interests in the Middle East. Washington and Tehran are setting conditions, a priori irreconcilable, for the reopening of the strait, a key passage for global oil trade.
