Donald Trump sets sights on renaming Strait of Hormuz after getting his way over Lake Ontario
In another rather bizarre move, President Donald Trump has once again suggested renaming a body of water.
In case you'd missed the news, last week, the US leader made the bold decision to rebrand Lake Ontario as Lake America - a true slap in the face for neighbours Canada.
He's far from finished, though, suggesting via his Truth Social account that the Strait of Hormuz could soon follow suit.
Situated between the Gulf of Oman and the Persian Gulf, this waterway is significantly placed as a major route for Europe's energy supply.
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Yesterday (September 2), Trump claimed that the Strait now belongs to his nation, and as such, it deserves a new identity.
"Now that we have it under USA control, should we change the name Hormuz Strait to TRUMP STRAIT???" he asked online.
"Like America itself, it would be 'hotter' than ever before!"
The official White House X account even shared a mock-up of the map, with the caption: "It's got a nice ring to it."
When later questioned on 'how serious' he was about his comment, Trump told reporters at the White House: "It was just thrown out there."
The so-called 'little excursion' is officially in its seventh month, with the conflict between Iran and the US showing no signs of halting.
Trump claimed at the start that it would last for six weeks at most, but even just this week, the Iranian military launched drones at US bases across Bahrain, Iraq and Jordan.
Whether he really goes ahead with the Trump Strait is yet to be seen, but he might do well to consider Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney's retort over Lake Ontario's alteration before doing so.
Having had no power over the new Lake America rebranding - Lake Ontario borders both Ontario and New York - Carney issued a brief history lesson to his political counterpart.
"The name Lake Ontario comes from the Wendat word Ontari'io, which, appropriately, means 'the lake is beautiful, the lake is big,'" he said, while the Canadian province's premier Doug Ford also weighed in with his own manoeuvre.
Ford erected a new sign (measuring 24ft by 12ft on 6ft legs) on the banks of the lake displaying the declaration 'Lake Ontario. Now and Always', in both English and French.
"You may have heard that President Trump is trying to rename this lake, all because he doesn't like Ontario and Canada standing up for ourselves," said Ford.
"But let's be serious. Long before President Trump, this lake was called Lake Ontario and long after President Trump is gone, it'll still be called Lake Ontario.
"But just in case President Trump or anyone else forgets, we've set up the sign to remind them: it's Lake Ontario now and forever."
It's all to do with trade disagreements between Trump and Canada, with the US president slapping 50 percent tariffs on selected Canadian imports.
Canada then hit back by announcing retaliatory tariffs on US goods.
Topics: Donald Trump, US News, Politics
Dan Seddon