Ontario premier Doug Ford unveils Lake Ontario sign near Grimsby, Ontario, after Trump’s order renaming Lake Ontario as ‘Lake America’. Photograph: Carlos Osorio/ReutersView image in fullscreenOntario premier Doug Ford unveils Lake Ontario sign near Grimsby, Ontario, after Trump’s order renaming Lake Ontario as ‘Lake America’.
Fotografia: Carlos Osorio/Reuters Canadá ergue placa gigante 'Lake Ontario' enquanto a disputa com Trump sobre o nome se intensifica Enquanto isso, Trump publica vídeo de si mesmo derrubando uma placa 'Lake Ontario' e substituindo-a por uma 'Lake America.
Prefer the Guardian on GoogleDonald Trump and Canada continued a verbal duel on Saturday over the US government’s administrative renaming of Lake Ontario, with the country erecting a giant sign saying “Lake Ontario.
Now and Always” – and the American president posting a video of him tearing down an avatar of that sign, erecting a replacement saying Lake America, and dancing to YMCA.
Rhetoric over the naming of Lake Ontario is the public face of an escalating trade dispute between the US and its northern neighbor involving a 50% US tariff on Canadian steel and retaliatory tariffs from Ottawa.
Trump’s order for the US government to refer to Lake Ontario as Lake America by Sunday had at least one prominent impact. Google Maps had changed Lake Ontario’s name to Lake America for US users to reflect the president’s executive renaming order.
O primeiro‑ministro do Canadá, Mark Carney, rejeitou de forma categórica a mudança de nome, explicando que o Lago Ontário deriva de uma palavra indígena Wendat que significa “the lake is beautiful, the lake is great” e que tem mais de 400 anos de origem.
0:54Ontario premier unveils Lake Ontario sign in response to Trump’s ‘Lake America’ order – videoWith talks to resolve the trade dispute stalled, Trump issued an executive order on Thursday directing US agencies that the lake was now Lake America.
It revived memories of a dispute earlier in his second presidency with Mexico, which saw Trump direct US agencies to refer to the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America.
Em uma declaração explicando por que estava cedendo ao nome desejado por Trump para o Lago Ontário, o Google disse que sua prática é “refletir mudanças de nome em fontes governamentais oficiais”.
Trump’s order affects the US’s federal Geographic Names Information System (GNIS), “which sets the standard for official US maps”, the tech company said.
View image in fullscreenLake Ontario renamed as Lake America on US-facing Google Maps. Photograph: Google MapsThe Lake of Ontario’s name change “does not have any impact on Canadian naming conventions or how the rest of the world refers to the lake,” Google said in a statement.
And it said “those in Canada will continue to see ‘Lake Ontario’” on Google Maps, “and those outside … the US and Canada will see both names.”.
Google had done similarly in Trump’s executive order for the US government to refer to the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America. US Google Map users for now see that body of water named as the “Gulf of America”.
Meanwhile, on Saturday, the US president raised the volume again by resorting to the kind of AI-generated imagery for which he has shown a penchant.
Ele postou um vídeo desse tipo de um exército de gansos canadenses com cabelos loiros semelhantes aos do Trump disparando rifles em defesa do Lago América. Ele publicou outro em que ele derruba um letreiro do Lago Ontário e o substitui pelo Lago América enquanto dança ao som da faixa “YMCA” dos Village People, que ele tem incorporado em suas aparições públicas há anos.
Ao longo da fronteira norte dos EUA, o premier de Ontário, Doug Ford, respondeu com um outdoor de duas andares declarando “Lake Ontario. Now and Always”, perto de Grimsby, Ontário.
Ford said Trump was trying to rename the lake because Ontario and Canada were “standing up for ourselves”, and he argued the name would outlast the president.
In an interview with the Associated Press earlier, Ford said the late Ronald Reagan would be “throwing up” over Trump’s tariff policies.
Enquanto isso, o governador de Manitoba, Wab Kinew, disse que a provocação de Trump no Lake America era semelhante a uma banda de rock envelhecida tentando reviver um sucesso antigo.
Wendat Nation grand chief Pierre Picard called Trump’s move an attempt to erase Indigenous history. “I want to tell him that it is unacceptable for us, as a nation, to have a president who can eradicate our history, our culture and our identity,” Picard said.
Lake Ontario is one of North America’s five Great Lakes, alongside Superior, Michigan, Huron and Erie. At 7,340 sq miles, Lake Ontario is the smallest of those in terms of surface area.
