President Donald Trump signed an executive order Thursday renaming Lake Ontario as Lake America as tensions between the United States and Canada continue to rise over trade. The change took effect immediately, according to the order.
“The Lake of America was something I’ve been thinking about for a long time, actually,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. “As you know, we took something called the Gulf of Mexico, we changed it, and now it’s very routinely the Gulf of America.”
Trump directed Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and the Department of the Interior to update the federal Geographic Names Information System to reflect the new name. Burgum later wrote, “Make the Great Lakes Great Again!”
The executive order described the lake as a “tremendous asset” to the United States and pointed to U.S. spending and security efforts across the Great Lakes.
“The United States is the greatest protector of the Great Lakes, including the body of water currently known as Lake Ontario,” the order states. It added that without U.S. security and investment, the freshwater system would not be as accessible for shipping, recreation, and other uses.
The order said the U.S. Coast Guard provides nine of the 11 ice-breaking vessels operating on the Great Lakes. It also said the United States has spent nearly $4 billion protecting the Great Lakes ecosystem over the past decade, while Canada has invested less during the same period.
Trump tied the dispute over the lake’s name to his broader complaints about Canada.
“Canada has been ripping us off for a long time on trade, very sadly,” Trump said after signing the order. “Even the military, you know, we defend Canada for nothing. We don’t get anything.”
Trump added that Canada wants to “be treated like a state,” but said, “we just can’t do that anymore.”
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney rejected the name change. He said the name Lake Ontario comes from the Wendat word “Ontari’io,” meaning “the lake is beautiful, the lake is big.”
“The name is more than 400 years old, predating both the Confederation of Canada and the Declaration of Independence of the United States of America,” Carney said. He added that Canadians would continue calling it Lake Ontario “then, now and always.”
The order comes days after U.S.-Canada trade negotiations broke down. New 50 percent U.S. tariffs on nearly $20 billion worth of Canadian products took effect Aug. 22. Trump has also announced plans for 50 percent tariffs on Canadian vehicles and auto parts beginning in 2027. Canada has announced retaliatory tariffs scheduled to take effect Sept. 8.
Trump previously ordered federal agencies to use the name Gulf of America instead of Gulf of Mexico. After signing Thursday’s order, he joked that another geographic change could follow.
“We have a gulf, and we have a lake, now all we need is an ocean,” Trump said. “Maybe we’ll have to change the name of the Atlantic and/or the Pacific. Maybe we’ll change them both.”