Trump has directed US agencies to replace Lake Ontario with “Lake America” in official US geographic records.
Canadian leaders have rejected the change, saying the lake remains Lake Ontario.
The renaming order comes as Washington and Ottawa impose retaliatory tariffs on $20 billion of each other’s goods.
US President Donald Trump on Thursday directed the US government to rename Lake Ontario as “Lake America”, adding another dispute with Canada as the two countries face an escalating trade confrontation.
Trump signed an executive order at the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office directing the Interior Department to update the lake’s name in the US geographic naming service. While the order changes how the US government will refer to the lake, Trump cannot compel Canada to use the new name. Although Trump said the change was “effective immediately”, the executive order gives officials 30 days to make the required changes.
According to AP, Trump had been floating the proposed name change in recent days as his administration announced 50 per cent tariffs on $20 billion worth of Canadian goods after talks between the two countries broke down. Canada responded this week with retaliatory tariffs on $20 billion worth of American goods, including steel, dairy products, appliances and farm equipment.
The move comes as Trump continues to pressure Canada after returning to the White House last year. He has repeatedly suggested that the country should become the 51st US state, despite the two countries being long-standing allies with historically close relations.
A large sign featuring a map of the Great Lakes was placed behind Trump as he signed the order. Over Lake Ontario, the map displayed “Lake America” in large red letters. Another map beside the president carried the words, “MAKING THE GREAT LAKES EVEN GREATER.”
Trump said he had completed the necessary notifications before signing the order.
“I’ve notified all of the various people that we have to notify. So, we’ve done everything that you have to do.”
“And this is official, effective immediately,” he added.
AP reported that the executive order itself sets out a 30-day period for the changes to be made.
Trump said the decision was not intended to send a particular geopolitical message, but he again accused Canada of treating the US unfairly on trade and military issues.
“Canada’s been ripping us off for a long time” on trade and military issues.
“They wanted to be treated like a state and they’re not a state,” the president said. “We just can’t do that anymore.”
“We love the people of Canada,” Trump added. “I don’t think their representatives do, an appropriate job. Maybe they’ll change. I really don’t know. It doesn’t make much difference.”
Canadian officials rejected Trump's attempt to change the lake's name.
Prime Minister Mark Carney pointed to its Indigenous origins and said the name predates both Canadian Confederation and the US Declaration of Independence.
“Canadians also know that naming reality means calling it Lake Ontario — then, now and always,” he wrote.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford, who has traded insults with Trump, also dismissed the proposed name.
“It’s Lake Ontario to Canadians and the rest of the world. Now and forever.”
Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston said: “We’re into some real foolishness now. It’s Lake Ontario, buddy.”
New York Governor Kathy Hochul, whose state shares a border with the lake, also rejected the change. Responding to the White House announcement on X, she wrote: “New York won’t be calling it that.”
Lake Ontario is one of the Great Lakes shared by the United States and Canada. Trump has broad authority over how the US government identifies geographic places and landmarks, but there is no single international body that determines the names of international bodies of water.
According to AP, the executive order can therefore change the name used by US government agencies, but it cannot require Canada to recognise “Lake America” as the lake's name.
The name Lake Ontario has Indigenous roots. It comes from the Huron Indigenous people's word “oniatarí”, which means “lake of shining waters”. The province of Ontario, founded in 1867, took its name from the lake.
The decision follows Trump's move last year to rename the Gulf of Mexico as the “Gulf of America”. That change similarly applied to how the US government refers to the body of water and did not give the US authority to require other countries to adopt the name.
Trump suggested that his push to rename bodies of water may not end with the lake and gulf.
“So, if you think about it, we have a gulf and we have a lake. Now, all we need is an ocean,” Trump said. “So maybe we’ll have to change the name of the Atlantic and/or the Pacific. Maybe we’ll change them.”
Trump signed the order with a Sharpie pen before holding it up for cameras.
“And we filed all the necessary papers, documents, everything else.”
