Trump threatens to change name of Lake Ontario to ‘Lake America’

WASHINGTON – U.S. President Donald Trump continued his war of words on Canada Tuesday, first insisting the United States is “giving serious consideration” to changing the name of Lake Ontario to Lake America and then accusing Prime Minister Mark Carney of lying.

In a post on social media about renaming the body of water, Trump said the U.S. does not expect to continue doing business with Ontario “much longer.”

The president followed it up with another post where he said he would “never interfere with Canadians speaking French!”

“This lie was made up by a weak and ineffective Prime Minister in an attempt to gain political support, which he has totally lost, from the people of Quebec,” Trump said. “I love French Canadians!”

Tensions between the two countries have continued to worsen since trade negotiations fell apart on Friday. The Trump administration slammed Canada with 50 per cent tariffs on an array of goods the following day.

Carney’s cabinet is set to announce Canada’s retaliatory tariffs Tuesday.

The prime minister said Saturday that U.S. negotiators brought in unacceptable last-minute changes to the agreement, including measures which would have reduced the discoverability of French content online.

Last spring the U.S. annual report on trade concerns with other countries identified Quebec’s Bill 109 as an issue, which requires online streaming companies to make sure French content is available and promoted on their sites.

Carney’s approval rating has been between 50 and 60 per cent over the summer, according to several different polls, while Trump’s approval rating in the U.S. is around 33 per cent, the lowest it has been across both his terms as president.

An Angus Reid poll taken over the weekend found broad support for the Canadian government’s decision to walk away from trade talks under the terms the U.S. offered. 

The online survey, which can’t be given a margin of error, found 76 per cent of Canadian respondents — and 85 per cent of Quebecers — believed Canada walking away was the right choice.

Trump has repeatedly posted about Canada for days but specifically targeted Doug Ford after the Ontario premier had choice words for the president on Monday. 

The two exchanged insults with Ford calling the president a bully, among other things, and Trump saying the premier was a “less charismatic, intelligent” version of his late brother, Rob.

Trump’s post about changing the name of Lake Ontario doesn’t come without precedent. On the day of his inauguration, Trump signed an executive order to change the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America.

The geographic controversy led to the White House removing The Associated Press from certain duties covering the president after the news service did not use “Gulf of America” in its reporting. 

The Associated Press took the White House to court in a dust-up that led to Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt ripping many authorities away from the White House Correspondent’s Association, the organization of journalists who cover the president.

Lake Ontario — one of the five Great Lakes — is located between Ontario and New York. The Canadian province is named after the lake.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 25, 2026.

— With files from Nick Murray in Ottawa