‘Lake America’ or Lake Ontario? Trump’s name change triggers Canada-US row

The development comes amid worsening trade ties between the two neighbours following the recent collapse of negotiations.

After the talks failed to produce an agreement, the US imposed new 50% tariffs on $20 billion (C$28 billion) worth of Canadian goods.

Trump had repeatedly warned about changing the name of the lake, one of the five Great Lakes shared by the US and Canada.

According to a statement issued by the White House: "Within 30 days of the date of this order, the Secretary of the Interior (Secretary) shall, in coordination with the Board on Geographic Names and consistent with 43 U.S.C. 364 through 364f, take all appropriate actions to rename as 'Lake America' the body of water currently named as Lake Ontario, bounded on the south and east by the State of New York, and on the north, west, and southwest by the Canadian province of Ontario."

Canada Pushes Back

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney strongly objected to the proposed name change, pointing to the lake's centuries-old history.

"The name Lake Ontario comes from the Wendat word Ontari’io, which, appropriately, means 'the lake is beautiful, the lake is big'," Carney wrote on X.

"The name is more than 400 years old, predating both the Confederation of Canada and the Declaration of Independence of the United States of America," he said.

Carney added: "We know that America is changing. Their trading relationships, their foreign policies, their national monuments, their hydronyms."

He further said: "Canadians also know that naming reality means calling it Lake Ontario – then, now and always."

Ontario Premier Doug Ford also rejected the proposed name change.

It’s Lake Ontario to Canadians and the rest of the world. Now and forever.

— Doug Ford (@fordnation) August 27, 2026

"It’s Lake Ontario to Canadians and the rest of the world. Now and forever," Ford said.

Lake Ontario is the smallest of the five Great Lakes and lies along the border between the Canadian province of Ontario and the US state of New York.

New York Governor Kathy Hochul has also said that New York will not refer to the lake by its proposed new name.