Trump signs order to rename Lake Ontario as 'Lake America'

'The Canadian officials have treated us very badly,' U.S. president says

U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Thursday to change the name of Lake Ontario to Lake America as tensions with Canada worsen.

Sitting near a map with the name "Lake America" over the body of water, Trump said "entitled" Canada has been difficult to deal with and repeated claims the country was ripping off the United States.

"They want to be treated like a state, but they are not a state," Trump said.

When asked why he was targeting American allies with these types of actions instead of American adversaries, Trump said, "they haven't treated us well."

"The Canadian officials have treated us very badly," Trump said. "They are nasty people."

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The U.S. president has been floating the idea of the name change in recent days as the U.S. announced it was imposing 50 per cent tariffs on $28 billion worth of Canadian goods over the weekend after talks between the countries broke down.

Trump has been needling America's northern neighbour since he returned to the White House last year, suggesting the ally with whom the U.S. once had warm relations should instead be absorbed as the 51st state.

Trump first threatened to rename the body of water during an escalating war of words with Ontario Premier Doug Ford.

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The two exchanged insults, with Ford calling the president a bully, among other things, and Trump saying the premier was a "less charismatic, intelligent" version of his late brother, Rob.

Lake Ontario — one of the five Great Lakes — is located between Ontario and New York.

The lake's name comes from the Huron Indigenous people's word "oniatarí:io," which means "lake of shining waters," and it predates European settlement in the region. The province of Ontario, founded in 1867, took its name from the lake.

Last year, Trump signed an executive order to change the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America.

It only applies to U.S. federal documents and geographic services, but some online map services also made the change.

The geographic controversy led to the White House removing The Associated Press from certain duties covering the president after the news service did not use "Gulf of America" in its reporting.

The Associated Press took the White House to court in a dust-up that led to Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt ripping many authorities away from the White House Correspondents' Association, the organization of journalists who cover the president.

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