United States President Donald Trump has signed an executive order directing federal agencies to refer to Lake Ontario as “Lake America,” escalating his confrontation with Canada following the breakdown of trade negotiations between the two countries.
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Trump signed the order on Thursday during remarks in the Oval Office, directing the US Department of the Interior to update the federal government’s Geographic Names Information System to reflect the new designation.
The President declared that the change was effective immediately, saying his administration had completed the necessary federal procedures.
“We’ve done everything that you have to do, and this is official, effective immediately,” Trump said.
The order, however, applies principally to United States federal agencies and does not compel Canada or other countries to recognise the new name. Lake Ontario straddles the international boundary between the United States and Canada.
Trump linked the decision directly to his increasingly bitter trade dispute with Ottawa, repeating accusations that Canada had taken unfair advantage of the United States for years.
“Canada has been ripping us off for a long time on trade, very sadly,” he said.
He also criticised the United States’ defence relationship with Canada, saying, “Even the military, you know, we defend Canada for nothing. We don’t get anything.”
Canada and the United States are both members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation and share extensive defence, security and intelligence arrangements.
Trump also renewed his threat to impose steep tariffs on automobiles manufactured in Canada, describing the country as one of the most difficult US trading partners.
The Lake Ontario order follows Trump’s earlier move to direct US federal agencies to use “Gulf of America” for the Gulf of Mexico, another change that did not oblige foreign governments to adopt Washington’s preferred terminology.
Trump said his administration had “filed all the necessary papers” and notified the relevant authorities concerning the Lake Ontario change.
The move immediately drew rejection from political leaders on both sides of the US-Canada border.
New York Governor Kathy Hochul, whose state borders Lake Ontario, said New York would continue using the existing name.
“New York won’t be calling it that,” Hochul said while reacting to the White House announcement.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney also rejected the change, insisting that the lake would remain Lake Ontario from Canada’s perspective.
“We know that America is changing. Their trading relationships, their foreign policies, their national monuments, their hydronyms,” Carney said.
“Canadians also know that naming reality means calling it Lake Ontario — then, now and always.”
Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew also mocked the move, comparing Trump’s latest renaming effort to a musician attempting to revive an old hit.
“He thought he had a real hit, a real golden oldie, with the Gulf of Mexico, and he’s trying to bring that back,” Kinew said.
“He’s trying to play the hits for his base, but I think everybody here thinks it’s a little sad, and it’s not his best work.”
The controversy began earlier in the week when Trump announced that the United States was giving “serious consideration” to changing the lake’s name after trade negotiations with Canada broke down.
Canadian officials had walked away from the negotiations after describing some US demands as unacceptable.
Trump subsequently wrote that the renaming was under consideration because “we don’t expect to be doing much business with Ontario any longer.”
He intensified the rhetoric on Wednesday by publishing an image of a map in which “Lake Ontario” had been crossed out and replaced with “Lake America.”
During Thursday’s announcement, Trump displayed a large poster carrying the new name alongside the slogan, “Making the Great Lakes Even Greater.”
Despite the executive order, Canadian authorities and New York State have made clear that they will continue referring to the international body of water as Lake Ontario, leaving the Trump administration’s “Lake America” designation primarily as a US federal naming policy amid the widening trade dispute.
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