Trump amenaza con renombrar el lago Ontario como "Lake America" mientras se intensifica la guerra comercial con Canadá
Puntos clave
- •El presidente Trump amenazó a Canadá con nuevos aranceles del 50 %, lo que llevó a Canadá a imponer sus propios aranceles de represalia de hasta 50 %.
- •Trump ha amenazado con renombrar el lago Ontario como "Lake America", y Dave Levinthal de NOTUS informa que el presidente probablemente podría hacerlo mediante una orden ejecutiva y un proceso burocrático similar al utilizado para el cambio a "Gulf of America".
- •Los Grandes Lagos se administran conjuntamente entre Washington y Ottawa bajo el Tratado de Aguas Fronterizas de 1909, por lo que un cambio unilateral de nombre por parte de Estados Unidos no alteraría esa estructura binacional ni obligaría al cumplimiento extranjero.
- •El episodio previo de "Gulf of America" muestra un cumplimiento desigual, con Longboat Key, en Florida, manteniendo su señalización de "Gulf of Mexico Drive" y Google mostrando nombres distintos a usuarios en Estados Unidos y México.
- •Se considera casi nula la posibilidad de que Canadá, que tiene cientos de millas de costa en el lago Ontario y una provincia del mismo nombre, reconozca formalmente el nombre "Lake America".
La guerra comercial del presidente de Estados Unidos, Donald Trump, con Canadá se intensificó dramáticamente cuando amenazó a su vecino del norte con nuevos aranceles del 50 % y Canadá respondió con sus propios aranceles de represalia, algunos de los cuales podrían alcanzar el 50 %. Trump, en respuesta, está arremetiendo con enojo contra Canadá y amenaza con darle al lago Ontario un nuevo nombre: Lake America.
El objetivo tiene un simbolismo adicional: el lago Ontario es el más oriental de los cinco Grandes Lagos, y se extiende entre la costa del estado de Nueva York y la provincia canadiense del mismo nombre, una provincia cuyo primer ministro, Doug Ford, ha sido uno de los críticos canadienses más abiertos de los aranceles de Trump.
La amenaza de Trump plantea una pregunta legal, según NOTUS' Dave Levinthal: "Can Trump really do that?" Su respuesta: "Yes, in short."
"But as last year's Gulf of Mexico/Gulf of America brouhaha indicates, when a U.S. president attempts to unilaterally rename a large body of water that touches multiple nations, internal and external drama ensues," Levinthal explains in NOTUS. "That was particularly evident from a tranche of government records NOTUS obtained last year detailing federal government wrangling and arguments over the gulf."
Levinthal notes that the U.S. Board on Geographic Names is responsible for "maintaining uniform geographic name usage throughout the federal government." The U.S. Geological Survey, which is part of the Interior Department, "serves as a lead agency for coordinating renaming requests," he reports. Traditionally, name-change requests are subject to a process of review and deliberation that could take months or years. Trump upended geographic and geological naming conventions when he declared, upon his second inauguration, that he would rename the Gulf of Mexico the "Gulf of America."
"Matters moved quickly: Trump signed an executive order on January 20, 2025, that mandated the 'Gulf of America' change," Levinthal continues. "On February 9, 2025, Trump declared 'Gulf of America Day' in the United States — and also suggested Canada should become the United States' 51st state. The 'Gulf of America' edict caused some internal tumult and logistical hiccups within federal agencies. But officials instituted a de facto media blackout over the process, little resistance emerged, and Trump ultimately got his way, particularly when the federal government's Geographic Names Information System made the official switch."
La misma orden del 20 de enero también restauró el nombre "Mount McKinley" al pico más alto de América del Norte, que había sido designado oficialmente Denali desde 2015, y la disputa sobre el golfo luego se extendió al acceso de la prensa cuando la Casa Blanca prohibió durante semanas la حضور de periodistas de Associated Press en eventos después de que la agencia mantuviera "Gulf of Mexico" en su guía de estilo.
Para cambiar el nombre del lago Ontario, Levinthal escribe que Trump "would likely employ a similar executive order and bureaucratic process."
Levinthal points out that while Congress "could also pass a law codifying such a name change," Americans would not necessarily be forced to start referring to Lake Ontario as "Lake America."
"Local jurisdictions have also defied Trump," according to Levinthal. "In Florida, for example, Longboat Key leaders voted to keep the town's 'Gulf of Mexico Drive' and not change signage to 'Gulf of America Drive.'" While some people and jurisdictions in New York might feel compelled or cajoled into making a "Lake America" switch, many others may simply choose to ignore Trump's wishes and maintain their Lake Ontario status quo. The "Gulf of America" experience also suggests that companies producing widely used maps could come to different conclusions on a "Lake America." When the gulf was renamed, Google updated its U.S. maps to "Gulf of America" while continuing to show "Golfo de México" to users in Mexico.
The report also notes that foreign nations do not have to comply with Trump's demand. The Great Lakes are in any case jointly managed by Washington and Ottawa under the 1909 Boundary Waters Treaty, which created the binational International Joint Commission to handle disputes over shared waters — a structure that would be unaffected by any unilateral U.S. renaming.
"There's almost zero chance Canada, with hundreds of miles of Lake Ontario shoreline and a province of the same name, would recognize 'Lake America' in any formal fashion," Levinthal wrote.
