Trump floats renaming the Atlantic and Pacific oceans after rebranding historic lake
Baku, August 28, AZERTAC
President Donald Trump on Thursday signed an executive order renaming Lake Ontario "Lake America," then joked that the Atlantic and Pacific oceans could be next, according to Fox News.
"As you know, we took something called the Gulf of Mexico, we changed it, and now it's very routinely the Gulf of America," Trump said.
"So if you think about it, we have a gulf and we have a lake. Now all we need is an ocean," he continued. "So maybe we'll have to change the name of the Atlantic and or the Pacific. Maybe we'll change them both."
Trump declared the Lake Ontario change "official, effective immediately" while announcing the order.
"And finally, it's the purpose of this more than anything else is we're going to be changing the name of Lake Ontario, effective immediately to Lake America," Trump said. "That's going to take place right now as I signed the order."
The president said the administration had "filed all the necessary papers, documents, everything else" and notified the relevant parties.
"So we've done everything that you have to do. And this is official, effective immediately," Trump said.
The order directs Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, working with the Board on Geographic Names, to take steps within 30 days to rename the lake in the federal Geographic Names Information System and remove references to "Lake Ontario."
It also directs the board to ensure federal maps, contracts, documents and agency communications use the new name.
The order does not control the name used by Canada, which borders the lake along with New York.
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