Donald Trump, engaged in a trade confrontation with Canada, signed a decree on Thursday which, according to him, “immediately” changes the name of “Lake Ontario”, located on the US-Canadian border, to “Lake of America”, drawing protests from the Canadian Prime Minister.
“Canadians also know to call things what they are, and this lake is called Lake Ontario – today and forever,” wrote Mark Carney on his X account.
The Republican president had already mentioned on several occasions an annexation of all of Canada, which would become the 51st American state. For the occasion, a map was installed in the Oval Office, on which this area, one of the Great Lakes located in this border area, is already named “Lake of America”, in large red letters.
“The United States is the primary protector of the Great Lakes,” read the executive order subsequently issued by the White House. The text also states: “The United States claims most of the volume of the lake, since the deepest parts are on American territory.” “Ontario”, which also designates a Canadian province, is a name of Native American origin.
Mark Carney indicated that it came from a Huron word, “Ontari’io”, meaning “the lake is beautiful, the lake is big”, in his post on The provincial government refers to the Iroquois word kanadario which means “shimmering” water.
“All we still lack is an ocean”
“We have a gulf and we have a lake. All we’re still missing is an ocean. So maybe we’ll change the name of the Atlantic or the Pacific. Maybe we’ll change both,” the US president commented. At the very beginning of his second term, he ordered the name of the “Gulf of Mexico” to be changed to the “Gulf of America.”
This new offensive by Donald Trump against Canada, which he accuses of “robbing” the United States, does not bode well for a resumption of trade discussions. “The Canadians have treated us very badly. They are bad people,” the American president said on Thursday. The two countries, for the moment, are going head to head when it comes to customs taxes.
Canada responded to new US customs duties that came into force on Saturday with a series of surcharges targeting certain American products, after the breakdown of trade negotiations between the two countries. These measures will be effective on September 8.
Before signing the decree, Donald Trump had already mentioned this change of name of Lake Ontario several times on social networks. Its decision does not result in any international recognition of this new name.
Mexico, for example, has never accepted the name “Gulf of America” and the major American press agency Associated Press has also refused to adopt this name wanted by the 80-year-old billionaire, very fond of cartography, in his own way.
Since his return to the White House, Donald Trump has published reports in which Canada, Greenland and the Strait of Hormuz appear to be American territories.
With AFP
