- President Donald Trump signed an executive order directing U.S. federal agencies to start referring to Lake Ontario as Lake America.
- Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney rejected the renaming, explaining that Lake Ontario derives from an Indigenous Wendat word dating back more than 400 years.
- “The name of Lake Ontario derives from the Wendat word « Ontari’io », which means “the lake is beautiful, the lake is great,” Carney posted, referring to the lake’s origins from indigenous peoples. “We know that the United States is changing. Their trade relations, their foreign policy, their national monuments, their hydronyms,” Carney continued.
- While Trump can compel U.S. agencies like the USGS and NOAA to update their maps, the order holds no authority over Canada or private citizens.
- The move follows an escalating trade conflict between the two nations involving a 50 percent U.S. tariff on Canadian steel and retaliatory tariffs from Ottawa.
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