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Amid an ongoing trade war with Canada, President Donald Trump issued an executive order on Thursday renaming Lake Ontario to “Lake America,” despite the fact that a majority of its surface area resides within Canadian territory.
Trump’s executive order did not discuss the breakdown of trade negotiations. Instead, the order, titled “Honoring the American History of the Great Lakes and Renaming Lake Ontario as Lake America,” claimed the president was changing the lake’s name to “to recognize the extraordinary contributions of the American people and the rich heritage of our history by naming great natural landmarks for our shared achievements.”
The order also stated that the U.S. is the “greatest protector of the Great Lakes, including the body of water currently known as Lake Ontario” — despite Trump administration policies that threaten the safety and cleanliness of the lakes.
The order requires the Interior Department to “rename as ‘Lake America’ the body of water currently named as Lake Ontario” in all official map-related government documents, “including on executive department and agency maps, contracts, and other documents and communications.” Although social media posts from the administration after Trump signed the order indicated it would become “effective immediately,” the department’s actions may take up to a calendar month to complete.
The change only affects government maps in the U.S. As an international body of water, Canada is not compelled to change the name of the lake, and is likely to continue calling it Lake Ontario. Other countries could decide whether to recognize the name change.
Trump also indicated he may not be done renaming large bodies of water, and indicated that he may look at “changing” the names of oceans next.
“If you think about it, we have a gulf and we have a lake,” Trump said during the signing ceremony, referring also to his changing the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the “Gulf of America” in U.S. documents. “Now, all we need is an ocean. So maybe we’ll have to change the name of the Atlantic and/or the Pacific. Maybe we’ll change them.”
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The name change could affect more than just relations with Canada. Like the Gulf, Trump could try to punish entities that kept the old name intact — including news organizations — as the White House sought to restrict the press credentials of The Associated Press after it wouldn’t change its style guide last year.
“This is stupid bullshit but extremely pernicious stupid bullshit that reporters and news outlets can be penalized for failing to respect,” Matthew Gertz, senior fellow at Media Matters for America, said in a post on Bluesky.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont), whose home state borders Canada, also criticized the action as a distraction from real issues Americans are worried about.
“The American people don’t want to rename Lake Ontario Lake America. They want affordable healthcare, childcare, housing, education & nutrition assistance — all of which you have massively cut in order to pay for your $1 trillion tax break to the top 1%,” Sanders wrote on X, directing his post toward Trump himself.
As Trump toyed with the idea last week, Chief Margaret Sault of the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation condemned the proposed change, noting that the name preceded the arrival of European colonizers to the continent.
“Lake Ontario has existed for thousands of years, long before Canada and the United States became the countries we know today. … You can change a label on a map, but you cannot change the relationship that our people have with these lands and waters,” Sault said. “You cannot rename away our history.”