Trump floats renaming Lake Ontario to 'Lake America,' denies claim he'd interfere with Canadians speaking French
The U.S. and Canada jointly manage the waterway.
President Donald Trump announced Tuesday morning that he is giving "serious consideration" to renaming Lake Ontario "Lake America" -- mirroring his move to rename the Gulf of Mexico to Gulf of America early in his second term.
Trump later posted on his social media platform an altered map of the lake and surrounding area.
The map posted by Trump depicts the great lake with the official "Lake Ontario" label crossed out. In its place is a "Lake America" label in a larger, gold-colored font and a graphic of an American flag.
Just like the Gulf of Mexico, Lake Ontario is a shared international waterway and multiple international, federal, and regional agencies oversee it.
Split along the U.S.-Canada border, New York State and Ontario each govern their own portion of the lakebed and shoreline. The U.S. and Canada jointly manage it through the International Joint Commission and Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement.
And just like the renaming of the Gulf of Mexico, Trump can unilaterally change a geographic name for official U.S. federal government use, like his action via executive order in that case -- but he doesn't have the authority to dictate what other countries or international bodies call it.
Trump on Tuesday also rejected Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney's claims that the U.S. was making threats on Canada's use of the French language, as opposed to English, as part of the ongoing trade war. Trump said on social media that he would "never interfere with Canadians speaking French."
"I have never even thought of doing such a stupid thing. This lie was made up by a weak and ineffective Prime Minister in an attempt to gain political support, which he has totally lost, from the people of Quebec. I love French Canadians!" Trump posted on his social media platform.
During a press conference on Saturday, Carney claimed that one of the reasons the trade talks with the U.S. collapsed is because the Trump administration wanted Canada to make changes to their use of the French language.
"This was not our choice. We were ready and close to having a comprehensive agreement that would be fair to both countries. But they made changes, including threats on the French language and Quebec culture and Canadian culture. That is not acceptable. That would never be acceptable," Carney said.
Carney clarified at an event Monday that his comments on the French language and culture were about the U.S. opposition to Quebec laws that require streaming services to carry a certain amount of French content and require bilingual labelling on all products sold in the province.
The bilingual labelling law, Bill 96, is officially considered a trade irritant by the Trump administration and was included as such in the last National Trade Estimate report. The report acknowledges that the law is meant to strengthen the use of the French language, but that, "the United States encouraged the Quebec provincial government to take into consideration business sector concerns and involve businesses in the drafting of further interpretive guidance on this law."
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