US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order aimed at renaming Lake Ontario as “Lake America”, adding a further flashpoint to a deepening trade dispute with Canada.
The decision follows the breakdown of US-Canada trade talks late last week. The US then imposed new 50% tariffs on C$28bn ($20bn) worth of Canadian goods, while Canada said it will respond with “dollar for dollar” counter-tariffs next month.
Trump had previously warned on social media that he would seek to change the name of the lake, one of the five Great Lakes shared by the two countries. On Thursday, he said the order was “official, effective immediately” and that his administration had completed the paperwork needed to carry out the change.
US Department To Update Geographic Name Records
In the order, Trump directed the US Department of the Interior to update the Geographic Names Information Service, the official repository of domestic geographic names in the United States, to reflect the new name.
He argued that the lake’s renaming was not intended as a direct message to Canada, but said the country had “been ripping us off for a long time on trade”.
Speaking as he signed the order in the Oval Office, Trump said he had been considering the change “for a long time” and drew a comparison with other US geographic name changes, saying there was a “gulf” and a “lake”, before suggesting that the Atlantic or Pacific could also be renamed.
There is no single internationally recognised body that sets official names for international waters. The order therefore concerns how the US officially recognises a place within its own geographic records, rather than creating a global naming authority to compel other states.
Canada Says Lake Ontario Will Remain
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said the name Lake Ontario can be traced back more than 400 years. In a post on Thursday, he pointed to its use before the formation of the Canadian Confederation and the US Declaration of Independence.
Carney wrote that Canada recognises the lake as Lake Ontario “today and forever”, adding that the United States was “changing” in areas including trade relations, foreign policy and national monuments.
Canada’s response also included reference to long-standing naming origins across the Great Lakes region. Names of four lakes — Ontario, Huron, Michigan and Erie — come from indigenous words, while Lake Superior was named after an anglicised French term. Lake Ontario, the smallest of the Great Lakes, borders the Canadian province of Ontario and the US state of New York.
Earlier this week, Canadian Industry Minister Melanie Joly rejected the notion that Canada would adopt the US change, saying: “We’ll always call it Lake Ontario.”
Officials have also previously argued that one country’s decisions do not oblige others to follow.
Past US Name Changes And Mexico Dispute
Trump’s latest executive order follows a similar move during his first term beginning in 2025. At that time, he signed an order changing the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America. Mexico rejected the change, saying a single country cannot rename a shared body of international water.
That renaming dispute also affected how the gulf is shown on maps. In the earlier case, Google Maps displayed “Gulf of America” for users in the US, while users in Mexico saw “Gulf of Mexico”. For other countries, the listing included both names in a combined format.
The Lake Ontario order comes amid US-Canada relations deteriorating to new lows, with both sides trading insults during the dispute over tariffs and trade conditions over the past week. On Friday night, talks collapsed at the last moment, with both sides accusing the other of pushing for last-minute changes to a tentative deal.
There was, however, a sign on Thursday that there could be room for renewed negotiation. Canadian US trade minister Dominic LeBlanc said in a post on X that the US had withdrawn some demands around labelling requirements in French, and that measures to promote French language and Canadian culture would not be subject to future US trade actions. He said Canada looked forward to further clarifications that could enable a mutually beneficial agreement reflecting Canadian sovereignty.
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28 August 2026
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