Trump suggests renaming Lake Ontario to Lake America

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Move over Gulf of Mexico, U.S. President Donald Trump says Lake Ontario may be getting a name change too.

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Down south they now have the Gulf of America and up north, the president on Truth Social suggests it may soon be Lake America.

“The United States is giving serious consideration to changing the name of Lake Ontario to Lake America in that we don’t expect to doing much business with Ontario any longer. Thank you for your attention to this matter! President DONALD J. TRUMP.”

The forecast over Lake America this Tuesday seems stormy with turbulent waters. These winds are blowing in from the south.

Isn’t war fun!

Of course, all of this is in reaction to Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s outbursts Monday where he not only said Trump can “kiss his ass” but called him a “dictator, “mocked his past business bankruptcies, suggested Canada inflict “pain” on Americans by cutting off energy supplies, and even called Trump a “loser.”

“Your own people don’t like you,” Ford said.

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As for Trump, he replied by posting the premier is the less charismatic brother of “late great” former Toronto mayor Rob Ford.

But changing the name of Lake Ontario?

Never know with Trump

It seems like using some humour in a situation between two elected leaders who are dishing it out hard. However, with Trump, you just don’t know. He’s the same guy who talked about taking over Greenland, wants to declare the Strait of Hormuz as American territory, and who can forget his suggestion to turn Canada into America’s 51st state!

And while the whole concept of changing the name of a Great Lake that the two countries share seems unrealistic, the U.S. National Park Service website does describe the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America.

So, who knows?

Changing the name of long established bodies of water, or town squares or streets, because of politics or ideology is always a bad idea.

But it’s not like Canada hasn’t played this game with America itself. Remember, the city of Vaughan put up a survey to see how residents felt about “renaming America Avenue” to perhaps Terry Fox Avenue.

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Trump denies French in trade dispute

If Ford and Prime Minister Mark Carney’s plan was to get inside of Trump’s head and ignite a war of words, they have succeeded. Just moments after the Lake America post, Trump went back to Truth Social to say suggestions that the trade talks broke down because of concerns of French language issues were not true.

“I would never interfere with Canadians speaking French! In fact, I have never even thought of doing such a stupid thing,” Trump posted to Truth Social on Tuesday. “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. I love French Canadians! President DONALD J. TRUMP.”

As tempestuous as Trump’s reaction seems, renaming the lake for his U.S. audience is one of the most harmless retaliatory actions he could take.

The bigger concern from Trump’s latest post is the line saying “we don’t expect to (be) doing much business with Ontario any longer.” That part is not funny since Ontario and the United States do an estimated $500 billion in trade each year.

All of that is already under Trump’s 50% tariffs on certain imports and the threat of even more coming Jan. 1, 2027. But American states also benefit greatly from investment and tourism from Ontarians across the big lake, no matter what name you give it.

jwarmington@postmedia.com

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