Newsman: President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Thursday, renaming Lake Ontario to Lake America on federal maps.
“The lake change — ‘Lake of America’ — was something I’ve been thinking about for a long time,” said Trump, who was flanked by two large boards that depicted the label “Lake America.”
The executive order to renaming Lake Ontario will be “effective immediately.”
President Trump signed the executive order amid the ongoing trade war between the United States and Canada. Trump calls Canada ‘one of the worst countries’ to deal with. Negotiations between the countries broke down over the weekend and a fresh round of 50% U.S. tariffs on some Canadian goods took effect on Saturday, leading Canada to retaliate with a set of its own levies.
“The Canadian officials have treated us very badly. They’re nasty people,” President Trump said in the Oval Office on Thursday. “People oftentimes they’ll ask me who’s the worst to deal with on trade, and I said that’s easy, Canada. They are the worst to trade, and they feel entitled, and just we can’t have that.”
When asked by a reporter about what his message is with the name change, the president said he has “no message,” but did criticize Canada.
“No message, as you knows, Canada has been ripping us off for a long time on trade, very sadly,” Trump said.
Asked why he is focused on doing things like this to America’s allies rather than focusing on other issues, Trump cited his belief that Canada has treated the U.S. “very badly” with regards to trade for many years — an argument he has used as justification for the sweeping tariffs he has imposed upon America’s northern neighbor.
In social media posts over the past few days, Trump has repeatedly suggested he would change the name of the lake on the U.S.-Canada border.
The president can unilaterally change a geographic name for official U.S. federal government use, like his action via executive order in January of 2025 renaming the Gulf of Mexico as the “Gulf of America.” However, he can’t dictate what other countries or international bodies call it.
