Despite Trump's renaming of Lake Ontario, Great Lakes endure as symbol of U.S.-Canada collaboration
The Trump administration has issued an executive order to rename Lake Ontario to Lake America, sparking criticism from environmentalists and researchers. Experts argue this move, coupled with funding cuts to scientific agencies, threatens essential U.S.-Canada environmental collaboration.
Why it matters
It highlights the tension between political nationalism and the necessity of international cooperation in managing shared ecological resources.
U.S. President Donald Trump took a public sledgehammer to that relationship Thursday as part of his trade war with Canada, signing an executive order directing that Lake Ontario be renamed Lake America.
It's unclear whether Trump can unilaterally rename the lake, whose name predates European colonization of the Americas and has been widely recognized internationally for centuries. But the move comes amid a broader push by the Trump administration that has hindered U.S.-Canada collaboration on scientific research and restoration work in the Great Lakes.
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"The way that this current administration in the United States views the environment and views science is demoralizing," said Aaron Fisk, professor at the Great Lakes Institute for Environmental Research at the University of Windsor.
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