Trump renames Lake Ontario as Lake America amid Canada trade row

Washington,UPDATED: Aug 27, 2026 23:40 IST

US President Donald Trump said on Thursday he is renaming Lake Ontario as "Lake America" in the United States, widening his confrontation with Canada as trade tensions deepen between the two countries.

Trump signed an executive order in the Oval Office to update the lake’s name in the US geographic naming service. However, he cannot require Canada to adopt the new name. The move echoes his decision last year to rename the Gulf of Mexico as the "Gulf of America".

As he signed the order at the Resolute Desk, a large sign on a stand behind him showed a map of the Great Lakes. Over Lake Ontario, the map carried the words "Lake America" in large red letters.

Trump also criticised Canada over trade, telling reporters it is "the worst" to deal with. "They feel entitled and we can’t have that," he said.

He has been raising the idea of renaming the lake in recent days, after the US announced over the weekend that it was imposing 50 per cent tariffs on USD 20 billion worth of Canadian goods following a breakdown in talks between the two countries. Since returning to the White House last year, Trump has repeatedly targeted America’s northern neighbour, at times suggesting that Canada should be absorbed as the 51st state.

The US and Canada share borders along several of the Great Lakes, including Lake Ontario. The official border between the two countries runs across the water between the lake’s northern and southern shores. The lake forms much of New York State’s coastline and separates Buffalo from Toronto, the capital of the province of Ontario. Toronto is Canada’s most populous city and Ontario its most populous province. Ontario is also the single largest export destination for more than a dozen US states.

The lake’s name comes from the Huron Indigenous word "oniatar:io", meaning "lake of shining waters", and it predates European settlement in the region. The province of Ontario, founded in 1867, took its name from the lake. The Hydrographic Organization, of which both the US and Canada are members, works to ensure that the world’s seas, oceans and navigable waters are surveyed and charted uniformly, and also names some of them. However, there is no single international body that decides the names of international bodies of water.

In sum, Trump has formally changed Lake Ontario’s name to "Lake America" for US official use, while coupling the move with fresh criticism of Canada as trade ties between the two countries come under further strain.

With PTI Inputs

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