President Donald Trump signed an executive order Thursday to rename Lake Ontario “Lake America.”
\n\nThe move comes amid the president’s repeated threats and taunts that he would do so amid his escalating trade war with Canada.
\n\n“This is official, effective immediately,” Trump said after signing the order in the Oval Office.
\n\nThe president said he’d “filed all the necessary papers, documents, everything else” for the name change.
\n\n“We notified all of the various people that we have to notify. So we’ve done everything that you have to do, and this is official, effective immediately,” he said.
\n\nThe order says that with “the deepest parts of the Lake’s waters lying within United States territory, the United States claims most of the Lake’s volume,” and that the “Lake has long been an integral asset to American exploration, settlement, commerce, and defense.”
\n\nAsked what message he was trying to send Canada by renaming the Great Lake, Trump said, “No message. As you know, Canada has been ripping us off for a long time on trade.”
\n\n“They don’t pay for anything, and they want to be treated like a state, but they’re not a state,” Trump said.
\n\nCanadian Prime Minister Mark Carney noted on…
Original source: https://www.nbcnews.com/business