Former Secretary of State and 2016 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton is taking aim at President Donald Trump after his decision to rename Lake Ontario “Lake America” for official U.S. government use.
Clinton responded to the move Thursday with a blunt three-word message on X: “It’s Lake Ontario.” Her post came shortly after Trump signed an executive order directing the Department of the Interior to update the lake’s name in the U.S. Geographic Names Information System.
The move comes as tensions between the United States and Canada continue to escalate over trade. The Trump administration recently imposed 50 percent tariffs on $20 billion worth of Canadian goods after trade negotiations broke down, while Canada responded with retaliatory tariffs on an equal amount of American products.
Trump has argued that Canada has taken advantage of the United States economically, and the White House has framed the trade dispute as part of a broader effort to secure better terms for American workers and businesses.
The president has also openly embraced the symbolic nature of the renaming. In a recent video, Trump displayed a map of the Great Lakes and crossed out “Lake Ontario,” replacing it with “Lake America.”
“And all it takes is a good pen and some intelligence,” Trump said before announcing the new name.
For Clinton, however, the name remains unchanged.
Her response has quickly become another flashpoint in the ongoing political battle between Trump and his Democratic critics. Conservative figures have also seized on Clinton’s remarks, pointing to the political history between the two after Trump defeated Clinton in the 2016 presidential election.
The controversy extends beyond Washington. Canadian officials have rejected the name change, with Prime Minister Mark Carney insisting that the body of water will continue to be called Lake Ontario in Canada. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul has likewise said New York will not adopt the new name.
The executive order only governs official U.S. federal usage, meaning it cannot force Canada or the rest of the world to adopt the name “Lake America.”
What began as a dispute over a name is now another symbol of the increasingly contentious economic and political relationship between the United States and Canada.
