Lake America? Trump floats Lake Ontario name change as tensions threaten U.S. travel recovery

U.S. President Donald Trump says his administration is considering renaming Lake Ontario as tensions between Canada and the United States continue to escalate over trade.

Trump floated the idea in a post on Truth Social Tuesday morning (Aug. 25), suggesting the Great Lake could be renamed “Lake America.”

“The United States is giving serious consideration to changing the name of Lake Ontario to Lake America in that we don’t expect to doing much business with Ontario any longer,” Trump wrote.

It wouldn't be the first time Trump has sought to rename a major body of water.

Earlier in his presidency, Trump signed an executive order directing the U.S. government to refer to the Gulf of Mexico as the “Gulf of America.”

The name change has since been reflected for U.S. users on Google Maps.

Trump’s latest remarks come less than 24 hours after he threatened another round of tariffs on Canadian goods, prompting a sharp response from Ontario Premier Doug Ford during a news conference Monday afternoon.

In a post Monday, Trump said he plans to increase tariffs to 50 per cent on all Canadian cars, trucks, automotive parts and steel beginning on New Year’s Day.

The latest exchange adds another layer of tension to the ongoing trade dispute between Canada and the United States, with Ontario – home to a major share of Canada’s automotive industry – once again in Trump’s crosshairs.

The U.S. imposed a fresh round of 50 per cent tariffs on Canadian exports on Saturday, affecting an estimated $28 billion worth of goods.

In response, Prime Minister Mark Carney said Canada will introduce dollar-for-dollar retaliatory measures following Labour Day.

What it means for Canada-U.S. travel

As it has been well documented, Canadian visitation to the United States, since early 2025, has dropped considerably amid trade tensions between Canada and the United States and Trump's repeated comments about making Canada the "51st state."

However, recent Statistics Canada data has pointed to early signs of a gradual recovery.

A first sign that “elbows” were gradually going down first emerged in April, when Statistics Canada reported a 1.8 per cent year-over-year increase in Canadian residents returning from trips to the U.S.

Then, this past June, Canadian residents made 1.7 million return trips from the U.S., marking a 3.2 per cent increase compared to June 2025.

Return trips by car for that month rose 5.2 per cent year over year, while return trips by air declined 3.8 per cent.

Canadian-resident return trips from the U.S. then increased 10.2 per cent year over year in July.

READ MORE: Canadian travel to U.S. rebounds in July, but remains well below 2024 levels

Could Trump’s latest round of tariffs derail this emerging recovery in Canada-U.S. travel and prompt Canadians, who had begun returning to the U.S., to reconsider their plans?

In July, when Trump's 50 per cent tariff threat first surfaced, PAX asked several travel industry experts for their take.

Back into the "elbows up” camp

Ontario-based travel advisor Jakki Prince, chief epic officer and owner of Prince Adventures, believes the recent FIFA World Cup tournament likely led Canadians to “bend on their flexibility” to travel to the United States.

“Canada's success, playing two knockout games in the USA, meant thousands of Canadians, potentially many of whom who would have avoided going to the States altogether, were motivated to travel to Los Angeles and Houston to support the men's national team,” Prince told PAX at the time. 

Likewise, summer is a time when Canadian families “look for affordable travel options,” and the U.S. has “long been a place Canadians drive to, especially in the face of steep international airfares,” Prince noted.

Political commentary, however, has repeatedly shown to motivate Canadians back into the “elbows up” camp, and keep them spending tourism dollars at home or elsewhere abroad, she added.

“I have no doubt some people will again rethink travel to the USA given the latest comments [by Trump],” Prince said at the time. 

Ontario’s Shalene Dudley, CEO of Latitude Concierge Travels, shared a similar sentiment.

“I think that anytime [Trump] opens his mouth to speak about Canada, it causes some negative effect to consumers who may take more time to consider where they prefer to spend their hard-earned Canadian dollars,” Dudley said.

Dudley said her cruise clients, in the end, will continue to fly to the U.S. for their travels.

“But many first-timers are reconsidering and choosing European and Canadian ports,” she said.

Reinforcing hesitation

Gregory Luciani, president and CEO of TravelOnly, believes tariffs only create more uncertainty.

"We’ve already seen many Canadians reconsider U.S. vacations over the past several months and another escalation in trade tensions may reinforce that hesitation," Luciani told PAX in July. "Uncertainty is never good for consumer confidence."

Zeina Gedeon, COO of Trevello World Holdings and CEO of Trevello Canada, echoed that sentiment.

“Trade friction and cross-border travel don't operate in separate silos,” she said at the time. “When Canadians feel like they're being targeted economically, it inevitably influences how they think about spending their vacation dollars south of the border, especially for leisure travellers who have other options.”

“We are hoping that this does not become a lasting shift! Or will this become our reality?”

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