Donald Trump signs order renaming Lake Ontario as 'Lake America' in the US

Donald Trump has said he will rename Lake Ontario as ⁠Lake America in the US following the escalating trade war with Canada.

The US president signed an executive order on Thursday and said the change would take effect immediately.

It will only apply in the US, as Mr Trump cannot force Canada to follow the renaming.

Signing the order in the Oval Office, Mr Trump told reporters that Canada is "the worst" to deal with on trade, adding: "They feel entitled and we can't have that."

Last year, he said he would be renaming the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America - a move that was rejected by the Mexican government.

As he announced his latest move, the US president suggested his push to rename bodies of water may not be finished.

"So, if you think about it, we have a gulf and we have a lake," he said. "Now, all we need is an ocean.

"So maybe we'll have to change the name of the Atlantic and/or the Pacific. Maybe we'll change them."

Canadian prime minister Mark Carney responded on X, writing: "The name Lake Ontario comes from the Wendat word Ontari'io, which, appropriately, means 'the lake is beautiful, the lake is big'.

"The name is more than 400 years old, predating both the Confederation of Canada and the Declaration of Independence of the United States of America."

The Wendat are an Iroquoian-speaking Indigenous North American people.

"We know that America is changing," Mr Carney continued. "Their trading relationships, their foreign policies, their national monuments, their hydronyms.

"Canadians also know that naming reality means calling it Lake Ontario - then, now and always."

Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston also responded on social media, saying: "We're into some real foolishness now. It's Lake Ontario, buddy."

It comes after the Canadian government said it would impose new tariffs on the US earlier this week on what it said was $20bn (£17.1bn) worth of US goods.

Canada said the counter-tariffs would impose duties of 15%, 25% and 50% across 700 products, including steel and appliances, imported from south of the border, to match dollar-for-dollar new duties imposed by Washington.

Talks broke down between the sides last week, and the Trump administration implemented planned tariff increases on Canadian goods on Saturday, including alcohol, wood products and clothes.

Further tariff hikes on steel, cars and car parts were announced by Mr Trump on Monday, due to be introduced in January.

A war of words also broke out between the countries.

Doug Ford, premier of Ontario, Canada's most populous province, threatened to cut off electricity and mineral supplies to the US on Monday.

Mr Ford said Ontario powered 1.5 million homes and businesses in the US - and he warned that Mr Trump "better have a pack of batteries".

The official US-Canada border stretches across the water between Lake Ontario's northern and southern shores.

The body of water forms much of New York State's coastline and separates Buffalo from Toronto, the capital of the province of Ontario.

(c) Sky News 2026: Donald Trump signs order renaming Lake Ontario as 'Lake America' in the US