As Trade Fight With Canada Escalates, the Order Changes Lake’s Name Across U.S. Federal Records, Canada Says the Name Isn’t Going Anywhere
President Donald Trump has ordered the U.S. government to rename Lake Ontario “Lake America,” making good on an idea he floated just days earlier as tensions between the United States and Canada continue to intensify.
Trump signed the executive order Thursday, Aug. 27, from the Oval Office, where a large map of the Great Lakes positioned behind him already showed “Lake America” printed in red over Lake Ontario.
The change is effective for the U.S. federal government, but it does not give Washington the authority to determine what Canada or international organizations call the lake.
Federal Agencies Ordered to Adopt ‘Lake America’
Under the executive order, the secretary of the Interior has 30 days to work with the U.S. Board on Geographic Names to formally update federal geographic records.
The Geographic Names Information System must also be updated, and federal agencies will be directed to use “Lake America” instead of Lake Ontario on government maps, contracts, documents and communications.
The White House argued that the lake has played a significant role in American commerce, defense and settlement and pointed to U.S. spending on preservation of the Great Lakes.
The administration also said the United States operates nine of the 11 icebreaking vessels serving the Great Lakes and has invested nearly $4 billion in protecting the freshwater ecosystem over the past decade.
Trump told reporters Thursday that Canada has been difficult to deal with in trade negotiations.
“They feel entitled and we can’t have that,” Trump said.
Canada Says Lake Ontario Name Will Remain
Canadian officials quickly rejected the name change.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said Lake Ontario’s name predates both the United States and modern Canada and made clear that his government has no plans to follow Trump’s directive.
For Canada, he said, the body of water remains Lake Ontario.
The lake sits between New York and the Canadian province of Ontario, meaning the Trump administration’s order governs only how the U.S. federal government identifies it.
The dispute also touches on the lake’s Indigenous history. The name Ontario is derived from an Indigenous word commonly interpreted as referring to a great or beautiful lake.
Renaming Comes Amid Growing U.S.-Canada Trade War
Trump’s decision comes as relations between the longtime allies have deteriorated sharply over trade.
The United States recently imposed 50% tariffs on roughly $20 billion in Canadian goods after negotiations between the two countries broke down.
Canada responded with retaliatory tariffs targeting approximately $20 billion in American products.
The back-and-forth represents another escalation in a trade conflict affecting two countries whose economies have long been closely intertwined.
Trump described Canada Thursday as “the worst” country to negotiate with on trade.
The president had publicly floated renaming Lake Ontario earlier in the week before making the change official.
Trump Previously Renamed Gulf of Mexico
The move follows Trump’s January 2025 executive order directing the federal government to use “Gulf of America” in place of the Gulf of Mexico.
That order similarly changed U.S. federal terminology without requiring other countries or international organizations to recognize the new name.
Trump has suggested his administration’s renaming campaign might not be finished, joking Thursday about potentially looking next at the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.
For now, federal agencies in the United States will begin transitioning their records to “Lake America,” while Canada and much of the rest of the world continue calling the shared body of water Lake Ontario.
