Trump signs executive order to rename Lake Ontario as Lake America
The Guardian · 2026-08-27
Former President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Thursday to rename Lake Ontario as "Lake America," directing federal agencies to adopt the new name on US maps, documents, and databases. This move, which Trump claimed he had been considering for "a long time," comes amid escalating trade tensions with Canada, with whom the US is engaged in a trade war involving new tariffs. However, Trump lacks the authority to rename Canada's portion of the lake or compel international bodies to adopt the change.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney rejected the renaming, stating on social media that the lake's original name comes from the Indigenous Wendat people. Several US governors, including New York's Kathy Hochul, Michigan's Gretchen Whitmer, and Wisconsin's Tony Evers, also dismissed the change, with Evers mockingly renaming Lake Michigan to "Lake Wisconsin." This incident follows a similar action by Trump on his first day in his second term, when he signed an order renaming the Gulf of Mexico as the "Gulf of America." Trump cited a $60 billion US trade deficit with Canada as justification for his broader stance, though economists attribute much of this to oil imports.