Daniel Wolfram
Questions have started to arise as to why Trump would rename the lake and if it is legal. There is also the question of whether he knows the original name of the lake is not Canadian.
The trade war between the United States of America and Canada just escalated to a new level.
After trade talks broke down last week, leaders from both countries have hurled insults at each other.
The President of the United States took it one step further. He renamed a prominent lake.
Water dispute
Donald Trump has taken his ongoing trade war with Canada to a new level. Yesterday, he signed an executive order rebranding one of North America’s famous shared lakes for official federal use. He changed Lake Ontario to Lake America.
“The lake change — ‘Lake of America’ — was something I’ve been thinking about for a long time,” Trump said while sitting in the Oval Office, although no evidence in his prior speeches or comments suggests that.
The earliest his issue with the lake name can be traced back to is a couple of days ago when, presumably, his “Human Printer” Natalie Harp showed him pictures of Lake Ontario crossed out and replaced with Lake America. He then posted the pictures on Truth Social and now it is an executive order.
While the US president holds authority over domestic government terminology, foreign nations are not bound by the order. Trump did a similar thing back in 2025 when he renamed the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America.
Trade talks collapse
This latest executive order from America to punish Canada comes after negotiations between the two allies fell apart. New tariffs of 50 percent on specific Canadian goods went into effect on Saturday, prompting immediate retaliatory taxes from Canada.
“The Canadian officials have treated us very badly. They’re nasty people,” Trump told reporters, adding that Canada remains the toughest trade partner because they feel “entitled.”
When pressed about the purpose behind changing the name, Trump insisted he had “no message,” according to ABC News. Yet he repeated his claim that Canada has been ripping off the US on trade for years.
Trump also suggested that more geographic changes could be coming. “If you think about it, we have a gulf and we have a lake. Now, all we need is an ocean,” he said, hinting that changing the names of the Atlantic or Pacific Ocean might be next.
Ontario is an Indigenous name
Canadian officials showed little interest in playing along with Trump’s antics. In a statement to ABC News, Ontario Premier Doug Ford dismissed the order entirely. “He can change it to whatever he wants. But it will always be Lake Ontario to all Canadians and the rest of the world!” Ford said.
It is unknown if Trump is aware that the name Lake Ontario is actually a word originating from Aboriginal Canadians. According to Indigenous peoples in Ontario, the name Ontario comes from the Mohawk word Oniatari:io (or Kanadario) meaning “beautiful lake.”
Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney wrote the same thing on his social media platforms and also reminded the Canadian people of the changing geopolitical landscape.
“We know that America is changing. Their trading relationships, their foreign policies, their national monuments, their hydronyms. Canadians also know that naming reality means calling it Lake Ontario – then, now and always.”
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