Trump renames Lake Ontario ‘Lake America’ for US federal use
Trump’s order changes Lake Ontario’s name for US federal use, drawing rejection from Canada, New York and Indigenous leaders.
US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order renaming Lake Ontario “Lake America” for US federal purposes, escalating an increasingly hostile trade dispute with Canada.
The order applies to references used by the US federal government and does not determine what Canada, international bodies, state authorities, private companies or map providers call the lake. Lake Ontario is one of North America’s five Great Lakes and lies between the Canadian province of Ontario and the US state of New York.
Trump announced the change in the Oval Office on Thursday (August 27), saying it would take effect immediately and describing it as an idea he had considered for a long time.
The announcement came after three days of intensive US-Canada trade negotiations collapsed, with Washington and Ottawa blaming each other for the failure to reach an agreement. The dispute has already resulted in tariffs affecting tens of billions of dollars in cross-border trade.
Canada and New York reject new name
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney quickly rejected the change, stressing that the name Lake Ontario had been used for more than 400 years and predated both Canada’s Confederation and the United States’ Declaration of Independence.
Carney said Canada would continue referring to the body of water as Lake Ontario “then, now and always”.
About 52% of the lake’s surface area lies in Canada, with the remainder on the New York side of the international border.
New York Governor Kathy Hochul also refused to adopt Trump’s preferred name, stating: “New York won’t be calling it that.”
Vermont Governor Phil Scott, a Republican whose state borders both Canada and New York, described the president’s decision as “petty and disappointing”.
Indigenous leader condemns name change
The word Ontario originates from the Wendat language and has been translated as meaning that the lake is beautiful and great.
Grand Chief Pierre Picard of the Wendat Nation in Quebec condemned Trump’s decision, accusing the US president of attempting to erase Indigenous history.
Picard said the announcement had left him outraged and shocked, reflecting wider concern that the federal change disregarded the lake’s longstanding cultural and historical identity.
Trade negotiations remain stalled
The renaming is unlikely to improve the prospects of renewed trade talks between the two longstanding allies.
Carney has said the negotiations broke down over several issues, including proposed changes that could affect Canada’s French-language protections, uncertainty over whether US tariff relief would cover medium- and heavy-duty trucks, and demands that could restrict Canada’s ability to negotiate trade agreements with other countries.
US officials have rejected that account, maintaining that Carney made a political decision to reject the proposed deal.
Trump has repeatedly suggested since early 2025 that Canada should become the 51st US state, an idea Canadian political leaders have dismissed.
The trade confrontation and the continuing US-Israeli war against Iran have contributed to higher living costs in the United States, placing pressure on Trump as his public approval falls to its lowest level of his current term.
Trump suggests oceans could be renamed
Trump previously ordered the Gulf of Mexico to be called the Gulf of America for US federal purposes in January 2025.
It took about two weeks for the US Board on Geographic Names, under the Interior Department, to update the federal Geographic Names Information System after that decision.
The president suggested on Thursday that his renaming campaign might extend further, joking that after giving new names to a gulf and a lake, the United States now needed an ocean. He raised the possibility of changing the name of the Atlantic or Pacific, or both.
Since returning to office, Trump has also sought to attach his name or preferred terminology to government buildings, planned naval vessels, a visa programme for wealthy foreign nationals, a federal prescription-drug website and savings accounts for children.
Americans retain favourable view of Canada
Despite the political dispute, Canada remains popular with the US public.
A Reuters/Ipsos survey conducted in May found that 72% of Americans held a favourable view of Canada, a higher proportion than for any other country included in the poll and roughly twice Trump’s approval rating.
The executive order therefore changes the lake’s name only within US federal usage. Canada, New York and Indigenous leaders have made clear that they will continue using Lake Ontario, leaving the shared body of water with different official names depending on which authority is referring to it.
Source: Reuters
