WASHINGTON D.C, USA – US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order seeking to rename Lake Ontario as “Lake America”, escalating tensions with Canada amid a worsening trade dispute between the two countries.
Trump announced the move on Thursday, saying the name change was “official, effective immediately” and that his administration had filed the necessary paperwork.
The executive order gives the US Department of the Interior 30 days to update the name in the Geographic Names Information Service, the US government’s official repository for domestic geographic names.
However, the proposed renaming applies only to how the United States officially refers to the lake. Canada is under no obligation to recognise the change, and Canadian leaders have rejected it.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said the body of water would continue to be known as Lake Ontario.
“Things must be called by their name, and this lake is called Lake Ontario – today and forever,” Carney said.
Trump links renaming to trade tensions
The order comes amid a major deterioration in US-Canada trade relations.
Trade talks between Washington and Ottawa collapsed last week, after the United States imposed new 50 per cent tariffs on about $20 billion (C$28 billion) worth of Canadian goods. Canada has said it will respond with “dollar for dollar” counter-tariffs next month.
Trump said the proposed name change was not intended as a direct message to Canada, but he linked the dispute to what he described as unfair Canadian trade practices.
“Canada has been ripping us off for a long time on trade,” Trump said while signing the order in the Oval Office.
He also suggested that he had been considering the name change for some time.
“So if you think about it, we have a gulf, and we have a lake,” Trump said, referring to his administration’s earlier attempt to rename the Gulf of Mexico.
“Now, all we need is an ocean. So maybe we’ll have to change the name of the Atlantic and/or the Pacific.”
Canada rejects ‘Lake America’ name
Canadian officials have made clear that they will continue using the historic name Lake Ontario.
Carney pointed out that the name dates back more than 400 years, predating both Canadian Confederation and the US Declaration of Independence.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford also rejected the proposal, saying the lake would remain Lake Ontario “to Canadians and the rest of the world”.
Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston dismissed the move as unnecessary, while Industry Minister Mélanie Joly said Canada would continue calling it Lake Ontario.
The dispute highlights a key limitation of the US order: there is no universally recognised international authority with the power to impose geographic names on shared international waters.
While the US government can determine how federal agencies officially refer to geographical features within its jurisdiction, other countries do not have to adopt those names.
Lake Ontario borders the Canadian province of Ontario and the US state of New York and is the smallest of North America’s five Great Lakes.
Similar move over Gulf of Mexico
Trump’s latest order follows a similar action taken after he returned to the White House in 2025, when his administration moved to rename the Gulf of Mexico as the “Gulf of America”.
Mexico rejected that change, arguing that one country could not unilaterally rename a shared body of international water.
Google subsequently adopted different naming conventions depending on the user’s location. Users in the United States see “Gulf of America”, while users in Mexico see “Gulf of Mexico”. In other countries, the service displays “Gulf of Mexico (Gulf of America)”.
The Gulf of Mexico naming dispute also contributed to a legal battle between Google and the Associated Press after the White House restricted AP reporters’ access to presidential events because the news organisation declined to adopt the new US name.
That legal dispute remains ongoing.
US lawmakers challenge Lake America order
The proposed renaming has also drawn criticism from US lawmakers.
Democratic Representative Debbie Dingell of Michigan said she plans to introduce legislation in Congress to overturn the name change, describing Trump’s order as “idiotic”.
Dingell argued that the Great Lakes are a shared resource protected jointly by Americans and Canadians over generations.
Other Democratic lawmakers have criticised the decision and urged the administration to focus on resolving the trade dispute instead.
Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers also mocked the proposal, joking that he had renamed Lake Michigan “Lake Wisconsin” and suggesting that signing a document did not automatically make the new name legitimate.
New York Governor Kathy Hochul, whose state is the only US state bordering Lake Ontario, said New York would not use the proposed name.
Interior Department backs the change
US Interior Secretary Doug Burgum welcomed Trump’s decision and said his department would move to implement the executive order.
Burgum argued that geographical features bordering the United States and supporting its economy should reflect what he described as American national interests.
The US Geological Survey is expected to play a role in updating federal mapping and geographic records once the order is implemented.
The move could nevertheless create different official names on either side of the border, much like the competing names for the Gulf of Mexico.
Trade talks leave room for negotiations
Despite the latest escalation, there are signs that Washington and Ottawa could eventually return to negotiations.
Canadian Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc said the United States had withdrawn some demands concerning French-language labelling and had indicated that measures promoting French language and Canadian culture would not be targeted by future US trade actions.
LeBlanc said Canada remained open to further constructive discussions if Washington provided additional clarification on its positions.
