President Donald Trump has issued an executive order directing U.S. federal agencies to use the name "Lake America" for Lake Ontario, a move that has drawn sharp criticism and defiance from Canadian officials.
The executive order, signed Thursday, comes amid ongoing trade disputes between the United States and Canada. Trump posted an AI-generated video on Saturday showing him removing the original sign for the lake and erecting one that reads "Welcome to Lake America."
Hours later, Ontario Premier Doug Ford unveiled a physical sign at a shorefront park that declared, "Lake Ontario, Now and Always." Standing at 50 Point Conservation Area in Hamilton, Ford stated that the sign was a message to Trump, asserting that Canadians are resilient and "will never, ever back down from a bully."
"The lake will always be known as Lake Ontario in Canada and the rest of the world, no matter what Trump calls it," Ford said, as reported by The Globe and Mail. He emphasized that the lake's name, derived from the Wendat word "Ontari'io" meaning "the lake is beautiful, the lake is big," predates both the Confederation of Canada and the U.S. Declaration of Independence.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney echoed Ford's sentiment, stating that Canadians would continue to call it Lake Ontario "then, now and always." Carney noted that while "America is changing" under Trump, Canadians recognize the reality of naming conventions. Lake Ontario forms part of the international boundary between New York and the Canadian province of Ontario and has been jointly managed under the 1909 Boundary Waters Treaty for over a century.
Trump's renaming effort is linked to broader trade tensions. He has threatened to increase tariffs on Canadian goods, including cars and steel, aiming to incentivize manufacturing within the United States. "The whole Canadian thing has to come to a stop," Trump stated during the signing of the executive order, criticizing Canada's trade practices and its reliance on U.S. military protection without adequate compensation.
Trump also suggested this might not be his last geographical renaming, joking that the Atlantic or Pacific Oceans could be next, referencing a previous, less contested renaming of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America. This symbolic action by the U.S. president escalates a dispute that encompasses trade policy, foreign relations, and now, geographical nomenclature.