US President Donald Trump has signed an official executive order renaming Lake Ontario to "Lake America."
According to the Operative Information Center-OMM, this decision follows a deadlock in trade negotiations between the United States and Canada, as well as Washington's imposition of a 50 percent tariff on $20 billion worth of Canadian goods. In response, the Canadian government has announced plans to implement retaliatory tariffs against the US starting next month.
Under the signed decree, the US Department of the Interior has been granted 30 days to update the "US Geographic Names Information System" to reflect the change. President Trump has declared the decision officially in effect.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has strongly protested the move. He emphasized that the lake's name has a history spanning over 400 years, predating both the Canadian Confederation and the US Declaration of Independence. "This lake is, and will forever be, Lake Ontario," Carney stated.
It should be noted that in 2025, President Trump took a similar step by renaming the Gulf of Mexico to the "Gulf of America." That decision sparked protests from Mexico and created digital mapping controversies, as platforms like Google Maps displayed different names depending on the user's location.
The new decree has also faced domestic opposition within the United States. Representative Debbie Dingell of Michigan labeled the decision "absurd" and announced plans to introduce legislation to reverse it. Several state officials have also declared that they will not recognize the renaming of the lake.
