WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump signed an executive order Thursday directing the federal government to rename Lake Ontario "Lake America," the latest escalation in a deepening trade dispute with Canada that has strained relations between the two longtime allies.

Trump signed the order in the Oval Office, flanked by large display boards depicting maps of the Great Lakes, including one labeled "Making the Great Lakes Even Greater" with "Lake America" printed over the body of water that forms part of the border between New York and Ontario, Canada. The president said the change would take effect immediately.

"'Lake of America' was something I've been thinking about for a long time," Trump said, according to multiple outlets present in the Oval Office. He went on to suggest the renaming could extend further. "We have a gulf and we have a lake. Now, all we need is an ocean. So, maybe we'll have to change the name of the Atlantic, and/or the Pacific. Maybe we'll change them both."

The order directs the Interior Department to update federal geographic databases and mapping systems to reflect the new name. According to the text of the order, the designation is justified in........

© International Business Times