Ontario Premier Doug Ford has responded to US President Donald Trump’s move to rename Lake Ontario by installing a large sign along Canada’s shoreline stating: “Lake Ontario. Now and Always.”
Ford unveiled the sign while criticising Trump’s decision, saying the lake had long been known as Lake Ontario and would continue to be called that regardless of US actions. He said Trump’s renaming was driven by dissatisfaction with Ontario and Canada “standing up for ourselves”.
The dispute follows an executive order Trump signed on Thursday, which seeks to change the lake’s name in the United States to “Lake America”. The president also shared a series of AI-generated videos on social media, including footage depicting a lake sign being overturned and replaced with one reading “Welcome to Lake America”.
Trade Row Spurs Fresh Name Dispute
The latest exchange of remarks came after trade talks between the two countries collapsed. The US introduced new 50% tariffs on $20bn (C$28bn) worth of Canadian goods.
Canada is set to respond with “dollar for dollar” counter-tariffs next month, aimed at matching the US measures.
Trump said his decree took effect immediately when he signed the order and posted content online to reinforce the new name. Canadian officials have dismissed the renaming effort, arguing that other countries are not obliged to adopt changes made unilaterally by the US.
Ford Frames Renaming As Insult To Canada
Standing in front of the newly installed sign, Ford said the message was intended to ensure Trump, or others, “forget[s]”, adding that the lake is “Lake Ontario, now and forever”.
The row mirrors earlier comments by Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, who had said “things must be called by their name”, and that the lake is called Lake Ontario “today and forever”.
Ford’s remarks also referenced the executive order’s effect on how the US recognises geographic features. Under the order, the US Department of the Interior has 30 days to update the name through the Geographic Names Information Service, which serves as the official repository of domestic geographic names in the US.
Great Lakes Origins Cited As Ontario And New York Border
Lake Ontario is the smallest of the Great Lakes and lies on the border between the Canadian province of Ontario and the US state of New York.
The names of four Great Lakes—Ontario, Huron, Michigan and Erie—are derived from Indigenous words, while Lake Superior is named after an anglicised French term.
Trump’s executive order is not the first time his administration has attempted to rename a shared body of water. When Trump entered the White House in 2025, he signed an order changing the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America. Mexico rejected the change, saying a single country cannot rename an international water body shared by multiple nations.
That earlier move also led to a legal dispute involving Mexico and Google after the company used “Gulf of America” in its maps service. As a result, Google Maps users in the United States see “Gulf of America”, while users in Mexico see “Gulf of Mexico”. In other countries, the name appears as “Gulf of Mexico (Gulf of America)”.
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30 August 2026
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