Ottawa (AFP) – For Liam Mooney, Lake Ontario will always be called that. He even made it into a cap to denounce Donald Trump's decision to change his name to "Lake America", despite unanimous protests from Canadians.
Published on: 02/09/2026 - 16:19
This 40-year-old entrepreneur had already made a name for himself last year by launching a cap emblazoned with the message "Canada is not for sale", in the face of repeated calls from Donald Trump to make Canada the 51st American state.
Worn by the leader of the province of Ontario, Doug Ford, a figure in Canadian political life, this headgear with a design inspired by the famous “Make America Great Again” caps was a great success in the country.
And the Canadian entrepreneur decided to do it again when Donald Trump, engaged in a trade confrontation with Canada, signed a decree last week renaming, according to him, Lake Ontario, located on the American-Canadian border, into "Lake America".
This new cap - which Liam Mooney assures has already sold "thousands" of copies in Canada, but also in the United States - simply displays the name of the lake ("Lake Ontario") with a small maple leaf on the front and the inscription "Canada is not for sale" behind.
Donald Trump's decision "is absurd" and "extremely dangerous", this lake being "a shared responsibility between our two countries", which requires "mutual respect", declared Liam Mooney to AFP, in a workshop in Ottawa. He ensures that the proceeds from sales will be donated to a lake protection organization.
"Economic nationalism"
The launch of this cap is part of a broader movement of economic patriotism in Canada, revived by the recent escalation of the trade conflict with Washington.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney broke off trade negotiations with Washington on August 21, accusing the White House of wanting to impose an "unfair" trade agreement on him, before responding to the entry into force of new American customs duties with the announcement of a series of surcharges.
“Canadians want to support Canadian companies, Canadian products” and abandon American products, judges Liam Mooney: “It’s economic nationalism.”
The decree of Donald Trump - who had already ordered at the start of his second term to change the name of the "Gulf of Mexico" to "Gulf of America" - caused a wave of protest in Canada.
And mockery. A drawing published Monday in the daily Globe and Mail caricatured the American president as a baby wearing a diaper, sitting in a puddle in which a “Lake America” sign was planted.
"It's an infantile reaction from a man who has never grown up, who has an immense ego which leads him absolutely nowhere," Anne Wardrop, a 90-year-old retiree, reacted to AFP in the streets of Ottawa.
“It’s ridiculous. It’s not up to him to decide,” said Gilbert Russell, a 66-year-old business manager, emphasizing the indigenous origin of the name of the lake named “hundreds of years ago.”
Mark Carney insisted, after the signing of the American decree, that “this lake is called Lake Ontario – today and forever”.
A huge sign with this same message was installed on Saturday on the banks of the lake.
"Let's be serious. This lake was called Lake Ontario long before President Trump. And it will still be called Lake Ontario long after President Trump is gone," said Doug Ford, the leader of Ontario. “But in case President Trump or anyone else forgets, we put up this sign to remind them that this is Lake Ontario, now and forever.”
© 2026 AFP
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