President Donald Trump signed an executive order Thursday at the White House directing the United States to rename Lake Ontario as “Lake America”, amid escalating trade and diplomatic tensions with Canada.
The order directs the U.S. Department of the Interior and the U.S. Board on Geographic Names to update federal geographic records and replace references to Lake Ontario with Lake America. The change applies to U.S. federal use, meaning Canada is not required to adopt the new name.
Trump made the announcement from the Oval Office, where he linked the move to his administration’s ongoing trade dispute with Canada.
“We have a Gulf and we have a Lake. Now all we need is an ocean,” Trump told reporters, suggesting that the names of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans could potentially also be changed.
The order comes as relations between Washington and Ottawa have deteriorated over tariffs and failed trade negotiations. The United States recently imposed 50% tariffs on roughly $20 billion in Canadian goods, prompting retaliatory measures from Canada.
Lake Ontario is one of the five Great Lakes and is shared by the U.S. state of New York and the Canadian province of Ontario. The name change is largely symbolic and does not alter Canada’s official use of the name Lake Ontario.
