Trump signs order to rename Lake Ontario to Lake America

ByJessica Murphy Canada digital editor. 27 August 2026, 19: 07 BST.

Key points

• When Trump took the White House in 2025, he signed a similar order that changed the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America.
• US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order seeking to rename Lake Ontario to Lake America.
• "We'll always call it Lake Ontario, " remarked Industry Minister Melanie Joly on Tuesday.
• The names of four of the Great Lakes – Ontario, Huron, Michigan and Erie – originate from indigenous words.
• 'Half my business will be gone' – firms in Canada and US fear trade war.

Notably, the move comes after trade discussions between the US and Canada collapsed late last week, and the US imposed new 50% tariffs on $20bn (C$28bn) worth of Canadian goods. Canada will implement "dollar for dollar" counter tariffs next month.

Trump has repeatedly posted threats regarding renaming the lake, one of the five Great Lakes that straddle both countries, on social media against the backdrop of the trade dispute.

He remarked on Thursday the move was "official, effective immediately" and that his administration has "filed all the necessary papers, documents" to produce the change.

When Trump took the White House in 2025, he signed a similar order that changed the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America. Mexico has rejected the name change, arguing a single country cannot rename a shared body of international water.

It additionally led to a dispute between Mexico and tech giant Google. It renamed the gulf in its maps application., external.

Trump's latest order directs the US Department of the Interior to update the Geographic Names Information Service – the official repository of domestic geographic names in the US – to reflect the name change, the president remarked.

Canada, nevertheless, does not have to recognise name changes produced by other countries and authorities dismissed the idea in remarks earlier this week.

Meanwhile, the names of four of the Great Lakes – Ontario, Huron, Michigan and Erie – originate from indigenous words. Lake Superior was named after an anglicised French word. Lake Ontario, the smallest of the Great Lakes, borders both the Canadian province and the US state of New York. Canada's retaliation tests the limit of American power under Trump.

As he signed the order on Thursday in the Oval Office, Trump remarked it wasn't a direct message to Canada, but that America's northern neighbour "has been ripping us off for a long time on trade".

Trump remarked he'd been thinking concerning renaming the lake "for a long time".

"So if you think about it, we have a gulf and we have a lake, " Trump remarked.

"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 both."

In practice, the name change request comes against the backdrop of a trade dispute that has seen US-Canada relations fall to new lows, with insults thrown back-and-forth between the Trump administration and Canadian office-holders over the past week.

There was a hint on Thursday that there was room for a return to the negotiating table sometime going forward.

Canadian US trade minister, Dominic LeBlanc, remarked in a post on X that the US had withdrawn some of its demands around labelling requirements in French "and is confirming that measures to promote French language and Canadian culture will not be subject to future US trade actions".

"We look forward to further constructive US clarifications on their other positions, which would create the possibility of a mutually beneficial trade agreement that respects Canadian sovereignty".

Trade discussions collapsed at the last minute late on Friday night, with both sides accusing the other of demanding last-minute changes to a tentative agreement.

In short, trump signs order to rename Lake Ontario to Lake America is the central thread here, and readers can expect follow-up reporting as the picture becomes clearer.