Trump threatens to rename Lake Ontario 'Lake America' in morning post

Trump threatens to rename Lake Ontario 'Lake America' as trade feud heats up

Social media post follows tense day between president and Ontario Premier Doug Ford

U.S. President Donald Trump is threatening to rename Lake Ontario to "Lake America," according to an early morning social media post Tuesday.

"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!" reads the post on Truth Social.

The post follows a day of tension amid a breakdown in Canada-U.S. trade negotiations, where Ontario Premier Doug Ford told the president he could "kiss my ass" and Trump referred to the premier as "Flunky Ford."

On Saturday, 50 per cent U.S. tariffs on about $28 billion worth of Canadians goods came into effect. Prime Minister Mark Carney said retaliatory, dollar-for-dollar tariffs will hit the U.S. Sept. 8.

Ford's comments were aired on Toronto radio station Newstalk 1010 in response to new tariffs. He later doubled down in a news conference in Hamilton, Ont. During the news conference Ford also said that "everything is on the table" when it comes to retaliation measures.

On Monday afternoon, Trump posted to Truth Social referring to Ford's commentary as "bluster" and referred to both Ford and Carney as "clowns" and bad leaders.

In January 2025, Trump renamed the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America in one of his first executive orders as president.

With files from Alina Snisarenko