President Donald Trump signed an executive order renaming Lake Ontario to Lake America as a slight after trade negotiations with Canada broke down.The move was predictably polarizing, energizing Trump’s allies while being denounced by his critics at home and abroad, most of all in Canada.
How did Trump rename Lake Ontario?
On Thursday, Trump signed an order titled “Honoring the American history of the Great Lakes and renaming Lake Ontario as Lake America.” The decree renames one of the four Great Lakes, while providing a legal and philosophical justification for the act. First and foremost, it paints the move as stemming from one of Trump’s first executive orders, signed on the first day of his second term, “Restoring Names that Honor American Greatness.”Trump then argued that the renaming was based on a utilitarian argument, saying the United States does more than Canada to protect and maintain the Great Lakes.“The United States is the greatest protector of the Great Lakes, including the body of water currently known as Lake Ontario,” he wrote, pointing out that the U.S. Coast Guard supplies nine of the 11 icebreakers operating in the Great Lakes. “Without the security and investment provided by the United States, this freshwater system would not be open for shipping, recreation, and responsible use to the same extent as it is today.“The United States has invested nearly $4 billion in protecting the Great Lakes freshwater ecosystem in the last decade, while Canada has invested far less in similar initiatives over the same period,” he wrote.The order then went into how the lake is a “tremendous asset” to the U.S. and detailed its extensive history as a key artery of U.S. trade and industry. He directed Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, in coordination with the Board on Geographic Names, to take the necessary steps to rename the lake over the next 30 days.Why did Trump rename Lake Ontario?
