‘Lake America’ and the US’ relationship with Canada

 By Katie Dusza, Managing Editor

President Donald Trump signed an executive order to rename the historic Lake Ontario to “Lake America.” The name change was a result of Canada’s refusal to give into the trade war that Trump has recently launched on them and is interpreted as a retaliatory act to Canadian officials. 

This week Apple Maps submitted to this order and renamed Lake Ontario to “Lake America” on its platform. This change is only visible for US users on the app as the name change as a whole is only effective in the US. The popularity of the map platform MapQuest has grown after its refusal to change Lake Ontario’s name. 

Mark Carney, the Canadian Prime Minister, spoke out against the name change relaying that Lake Ontario was named long before the Canadian Confederation and the US Declaration of Independence. Carney recounted that Lake Ontario’s name comes from the Indigenous Wendat people.

CNN predicts Lake Ontario’s renaming will be more unpopular than the renaming of the Gulf of Mexico to “Gulf of America” during executive order rampage on the first day of Trump’s incumbency. This is due to Americans generally having higher sympathy towards Canada than towards Mexico due to a hostile narrative of immigrants from south of the border that has been relayed to Americans throughout both of Trump’s terms. 

Ipsos reports that 63% of Americans oppose this executive order while a mere 14% agree with the name change. The rest of the percentage are undecided on the issue. Additionally, Trump’s own Republican party disagrees with the renaming 43% to 33%. 

This executive order was signed amid growing tensions between the US and Canada regarding Trump’s trade dispute with them. CNN reports that people oppose Trump’s new tariffs nearly three to one. Trump’s tariffs throughout his second term have resulted in inflation as well as a static job market. As a result, American approval of said tariffs has been consistently low. The tariffs placed on Canada are among the most opposed tariffs of Trump's presidency.