While Donald Trump is putting 'America' on the map, there are signs that Canadians are hitting back - by skipping out his own backyard in their vacation plans.

The latest Florida tourism figures show that roughly 1.68 million Canadians visited the Sunshine State during the first six months of 2026 - a 13.9 percent fall compared with the same period last year, according to Visit Florida

That represents around 270,000 fewer Canadian visitors in just six months.

And the timing is hard to ignore.

Lake Ontario is now being referred to as 'Lake America' in official US federal use after the president signed an executive order on Thursday, escalating an already bitter dispute with Canada.

'We defend Canada for nothing, we don't get anything,' Trump said.

'We love the people of Canada, but their representatives aren't doing an appropriate job.'

Trump's decision to rename the lake comes amid a deepening trade confrontation between Washington and Ottawa, with tariffs, retaliatory measures and increasingly hostile rhetoric straining the traditionally close relationship between the two neighbors.

Trump has threatened a 50 percent tariff on Canadian cars, trucks and auto parts starting January 1, putting pressure on Canada to agree to a new trade deal.

The Trump administration imposed an additional 50 percent tariff on certain Canadian products effective August 19.

The White House says this is meant to counter what it considers discriminatory Canadian trade policies.

But Canada is fighting back. 

Canada has announced that it will match the new US tariffs dollar-for-dollar/rate-for-rate, with additional tariffs on about $27.6 billion of American goods beginning September 8.

The White House order does not mean Canadians are suddenly expected to call the Great Lake 'Lake America,' and it seems they won't be any time soon.

The name change applies to US federal government usage. Canada remains free to use Lake Ontario - and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has made clear that is exactly what Ottawa intends to do.

'The name Lake Ontario comes from the Wendat word Ontari'io, which, appropriately, means 'the lake is beautiful, the lake is big,' Carney wrote.

'Canadians also know that naming reality means calling it Lake Ontario - then, now and always.'

The Sunshine State has long been one of the favorite destinations for Canadians escaping winter; destinations like Fort Lauderdale, Sarasota, Orlando and the Gulf Coast.

But the numbers are moving in the wrong direction.

Florida welcomed an estimated 73.5 million visitors from around the world during the first half of 2026, about 1.4 per cent fewer than during the same period in 2025.

Canadian tourism fell considerably faster.

The state recorded approximately 1.68 million Canadian visitors, compared with about 1.94 million a year earlier.

The decline is even more striking when compared with the pre-pandemic era.

Florida received around 2.29 million Canadian visitors during the first half of 2019.

This year's figure is therefore roughly 610,000 below that level.

Canada remains an important tourism market for Florida despite the decline. The state welcomed an estimated 3.17 million Canadian visitors in 2025.

Florida's figures are part of a wider shift.

According to Statistics Canada, Canadian residents made 29.1 million return trips from the US in 2025, a staggering 25.4 percent decline from the previous year.

At the same time, Canadians increasingly looked elsewhere, with overseas trips rising by 9.2 percent in 2025.

Trump has made geographic renaming a distinctive part of his presidency. In 2025, his administration directed US federal agencies to use 'Gulf of America' instead of the Gulf of Mexico.

And the president has suggested this won't be the last body of water he renames.