Trump

President Donald Trump says he's renaming Lake Ontario to be known as “Lake America” in the United States as he escalates his trade war with Canada. The Republican president signed an executive order in the Oval Office on Thursday that updated the lake’s name for the U.S. geographic naming service. Trump cannot force Canada to follow along, however. Trump has been floating the idea of the name change in recent days as the U.S. announced it was imposing 50% tariffs on $20 billion worth of Canadian goods over the weekend after talks between the countries broke down.

The leader of the Seneca Nation in upstate New York is criticizing President Donald Trump’s decision to rename Lake Ontario as “Lake America,” saying it violates a more than 225-year-old treaty and shows a “blatant disrespect” for the Indigenous people who gave it its name in the first place. In a statement Friday, Seneca Nation President J. Conrad Seneca called for Trump’s executive order to be rescinded. He says the Lake Ontario name should remain as a reflection of the Indigenous people in the U.S. and Canada who lived in territory around and along the lake long before the creation of either nation. Trump this week signed an order directing the Interior Department to update the lake’s name as part of his escalating trade war with Canada.