Toronto 
The trade dispute between Canada and the United States has taken an unusual turn, with President Donald Trump ordering Lake Ontario renamed “Lake America” for U.S. federal use.
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U.S. President Donald Trump signed Executive Order 14420 on Thursday, directing the U.S. interior secretary to rename Lake Ontario “Lake America” for American federal purposes. Canada, however, is not required to adopt the new name.
The move comes as trade tensions between the two countries continue. Canada-U.S. negotiations have been suspended after Washington proposed terms the Canadian government considered unacceptable.
In the order, Trump argues that the lake is important to American commerce, energy, shipping and history. He also points to U.S. spending on Great Lakes protection and the country’s role in keeping shipping lanes open.
“The body of water currently known as Lake Ontario is a tremendous asset to the United States and part of our Nation’s heritage,” the order states.
The U.S. Secretary of the Interior has 30 days to work with the Board on Geographic Names to implement the change. U.S. federal maps, documents and communications would then refer to it as Lake America.
Prime Minister Mark Carney responded on X by pointing to the much older origins of the lake’s name.
“The name Lake Ontario comes from the Wendat word Ontari’io,” Carney wrote, noting that the name is more than 400 years old and predates both Canadian Confederation and the U.S. Declaration of Independence.
Carney also connected the dispute over the lake’s name to broader changes south of the border, referencing America’s trading relationships, foreign policy, national monuments and place names.
“Canadians also know that naming reality means calling it Lake Ontario, then, now and always, ” Carney concluded.
Trump’s order can change how U.S. federal agencies label the lake, but it cannot require Canada to do the same. So for Canadians, the name remains Lake Ontario, even as the trade dispute spills from economics into geography.
