Cartographic Complications: Trump Reiterates Renaming Lake Ontario, New Mexico, Strait of Hormuz

Dallas: US President Donald Trump has once again turned geography into a political talking point, reviving his push to rename major geographical landmarks and even a US state, while adding that the Strait of Hormuz could be renamed as the “Trump Strait”. Speaking at the Republican Convention in Dallas on Wednesday, Trump said he would announce the renaming of the strategically vital waterway. “It’s going to be called, ladies and gentlemen — I’ll have an announcement. We’ll call it the Trump Strait, and I’m sure the Iranian leadership will be thrilled with that,” Trump said.

The US President also revived his proposal to rename Lake Ontario as “Lake America”, referring to an executive order he said he had signed earlier in August amid a simmering trade war with Canada. “We’re going to call that now Lake America,” he said. Lake Ontario is shared by the United States and Canada and is governed by the Boundary Waters Treaty.

Trump also floated renaming neighbouring New Mexico as “New America”, an idea he has increasingly raised in recent days. While talking about his administration’s campaign against drug trafficking, Trump said the designation of cartels as Foreign Terrorist Organisations had helped curb the flow of fentanyl into the United States.

“The flow of fentanyl coming across our border is down by 60% — and coming in through the oceans, seas, and most importantly, the Gulf of America, drug smuggling is down 97%,” Trump added. Trump's remarks come after he has repeatedly sought to put his imprint on geographic names, including his administration's push to refer to the Gulf of Mexico as the “Gulf of America”.

Trump’s latest remarks add another strategically significant name to his growing list of proposed geographical makeovers, stretching from North American waterways to one of the world’s most critical maritime chokepoints — the Strait of Hormuz. 

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