Trump Signs Executive Order to Rename Lake Ontario as 'Lake America'

President Donald Trump has signed an executive order directing all US federal agencies and maps to refer to Lake Ontario — which straddles the border between the United States and Canada — as "Lake America," the latest in a series of renaming moves that have drawn controversy and friction with neighboring countries.

Canada swiftly rejected the new designation. The office of Prime Minister Mark Carney issued a statement saying the lake's name, which has been in use for centuries and derives from an Indigenous word, would not be changed on Canadian maps or official documents.

"Canada has a proud history and geography that speaks for itself. We will continue to use the name Lake Ontario," the Canadian statement read.

The move follows earlier Trump administration renaming orders that rechristened the Gulf of Mexico as the "Gulf of America" — a change that sparked diplomatic protests from Mexico and Canada but was adopted on US government maps.

Lake Ontario is the smallest of the Great Lakes by surface area and lies on the border between the US state of New York and the Canadian province of Ontario. It is a crucial source of drinking water and supports significant shipping and tourism on both sides of the border.

Critics in the United States dismissed the move as a distraction, while Canadian politicians from multiple parties condemned it as disrespectful to Indigenous heritage and indicative of the deterioration of US-Canada relations under the current administration.

The renaming affects only official US documents and maps; Canadian authorities, international bodies, and geographic naming conventions used by the United Nations and other international organizations continue to use the name Lake Ontario.