Trump Signs Executive Order Renaming Lake Ontario 'Lake America' Amid Canada Trade War

President Trump signed an executive order Thursday afternoon, August 27, 2026, renaming Lake Ontario as 'Lake America,' effective immediately within the federal government, escalating his trade war with Canada. Flanked in the Oval Office by maps of the Great Lakes labeled 'Lake America' over Lake Ontario, Trump directed the Board on Geographic Names to guide agencies to use the new name on maps, contracts, and communications, arguing the deepest parts and most of the lake's volume sit in US territory. It is the second time Trump has renamed an international body of water for the US, following the Gulf of Mexico's renaming to 'Gulf of America.' Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney rejected the move, noting the name Ontario derives from the Wendat word Ontari'io ('the lake is beautiful, the lake is big') and predates both Canadian Confederation and US independence by more than 400 years.