Trump Signs Order to Change Name of Lake Ontario to Lake America

WASHINGTON—President Donald Trump signed an order on Thursday to officially rename Lake Ontario as Lake America, effective immediately.

“Canada has been ripping us off for a long time on trade, very sadly,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office after signing the executive order. “Even the military, you know, we defend Canada for nothing. We don’t get anything.”

The U.S. Department of the Interior will update the Geographic Names Information System to reflect the new name.

Trump first suggested the idea of renaming the lake on Aug. 25 after Ontario Premier Doug Ford criticized him with insults and profane language over the new U.S. tariffs on Aug. 24. Trump subsequently issued statements of his own with insults directed at Ford.

When asked about the issue, Ford said on Aug. 25 that it’s best the two sides tone down the rhetoric, adding that things “got a little personal yesterday between the president and myself.” Canada’s Industry Minister Mélanie Joly said on the same day that, “We’ll always call it Lake Ontario, period.”

“While all of these shenanigans are happening, we’ll just be smart and we’ll be strategic, and we’ll fight back,” she said.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney hasn’t yet publicly commented on the issue.

This is not the first time Trump has renamed a body of water. In January 2025, on his first day in office, he issued an executive order for all U.S. agencies to change the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America.

“We have a Gulf, and we have a Lake—now all we need is an ocean,” Trump joked on Aug. 27. “Maybe we’ll have to change the name of the Atlantic and/or the Pacific. Maybe we’ll change them both.”

Trade Negotiations Collapse

Trump said in his initial announcement on Aug. 25 that Canada wants to be treated like a state, “but they’re not a state.”

Negotiations between Canada and the United States broke down on Aug. 21, leading to new 50 percent U.S. tariffs on nearly $20 billion of Canadian products taking effect on Aug. 22.

Trump also announced on Aug. 24 his plan to impose new 50 percent tariffs on all Canadian vehicles beginning in 2027, after Canada announced its intention to impose dollar-for-dollar retaliatory tariffs against the United States.

“We love the people of Canada. I don’t think their representatives do an appropriate job,” Trump said.

In his speech announcing his government’s plan to impose retaliatory tariffs on the United States, Carney said on Aug. 22 that Canada had been working “in good faith” with the United States toward a trade deal, but that the deal Washington offered was unacceptable to his government, so he instructed his team to walk away on Aug. 21.

“Canada is becoming stronger and less dependent on America,” Carney said.

Canada’s counter-tariffs come into effect on Sept. 8.

Matthew Horwood contributed to this report.