Trump signed an executive order renaming Lake Ontario to "American Lake," and also mentioned considering renaming the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.
Amid the ongoing trade war between the US and Canada, Trump has now extended the conflict to geographical names. On August 27, local time, US President Trump signed an executive order renaming Lake Ontario to "Lake America," adding that he might also consider renaming the Atlantic or Pacific Oceans in the future.
According to CCTV News, on August 27 local time, US President Trump announced that Lake Ontario would be renamed "Lake of America" effective immediately and signed the relevant executive order. CCTV noted that Lake Ontario is one of the five Great Lakes of North America, located on the border between the United States and Canada, bordering Ontario, Canada to the north and New York State, USA to the south.
Trump subsequently stated that he might consider renaming the Atlantic or Pacific Ocean in the future. However, as of now, Trump has not signed any executive order regarding renaming the Atlantic or Pacific Ocean.
Trump also criticized Canada again that day, saying that Canada has long been "exploiting" the United States and claiming that Canada wants to be "treated like a state, not as a country." Regarding the auto industry, Trump stated, "We don't want Canada making cars for the United States." He also called the tariffs on Canadian-made cars "very high" and accused Canadian officials of being "very bad to the United States."
From "Lake Ontario" to "Lake America": Trump Officially Signs Executive Order
This time, Trump did not just propose a name change; he has officially signed an executive order.
According to reports, Trump signed an executive order at the White House on Thursday, October 27th (Eastern Time), renaming Lake Ontario to Lake America and requiring Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and the Department of the Interior to take action to update the relevant names in the U.S. Geographic Names Information System. The U.S. Council on Geographic Names is also expected to update the records of geographic names used by the federal government.
On Tuesday, Trump indicated he was considering renaming Lake Ontario "Lake of America." Two days later, he formally signed an executive order, turning this idea into a formal administrative action at the U.S. federal government level.
However, this name change primarily means that the U.S. federal government will adopt the name "American Lake," but it does not mean that Canada or the international community must simultaneously accept this name.
Lake Ontario is one of the five Great Lakes of North America, bordered to the north by the province of Ontario, Canada, and to the south by the state of New York, USA. Approximately 52% of the lake's surface lies on the Canadian side, and the two countries manage their cross-border waters through the Treaty on Boundary Waters signed in 1909.
Therefore, the actual impact of Trump's executive order is primarily reflected in official documents and geographical name databases of the US federal government. Whether Canada will adopt the name "American Lake" is another matter entirely.
As of press time, Canadian Prime Minister Carney's office has not responded to this.
Trump continues to pressure Canada on everything from tariffs to place names.
This "renaming" action comes against the backdrop of a sharp deterioration in US-Canada relations.
On Friday, August 21, trade negotiations between the US and Canada broke down in the final stages; the US subsequently imposed a 50% tariff on approximately $20 billion worth of Canadian goods, effective August 22. Canadian Prime Minister Carney then announced countermeasures, and on August 25 formally announced a plan to impose equivalent retaliatory tariffs on approximately $20 billion worth of US goods, scheduled to take effect on September 8.
Meanwhile, the automotive industry has become a core area of trade disputes between the two sides. Trump previously threatened to further increase tariffs on Canadian cars, trucks, and auto parts starting January 1, 2027.
On the 27th, Trump reiterated the issue of Canadian automobiles, stating that the United States "does not want Canada to build cars for the United States." This is consistent with his previous stance of demanding more concessions from Canada in trade relations.
From tariffs to automobiles, and now to the renaming of Lake Ontario, the Trump administration's pressure on Canada is escalating. While changing a lake's name itself doesn't directly increase trade costs, its political and symbolic implications are clearly extraordinary.
"American Lake" is not the first time Trump has pushed for a renaming of a geographical site.
Trump's push to rename Lake Ontario continues his practice of using executive action to change official U.S. geographical names since his first term.
In January 2025, Trump signed an executive order requiring the U.S. federal government to refer to the "Gulf of Mexico" as the "U.S. Gulf" and to push for the name to be entered into the U.S. Geographic Names Information System. U.S. federal agencies subsequently updated relevant databases and documents in accordance with the executive order.
The renaming of Lake Ontario followed a similar path: the president signed an executive order, and then the Department of the Interior and related agencies were responsible for updating the geographical name used by the U.S. federal government.
But Lake Ontario is more unique than the Gulf of Mexico—it is a transboundary body of water shared by the United States and Canada, and its name is directly related to the Canadian province of Ontario.
Therefore, at a time of heightened trade tensions between the United States and Canada, renaming "Lake Ontario" to "Lake of the United States" is not only an administrative name change, but also inevitably carries a clear political symbolism.
From "American Lake" to the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, how many more names will Trump change?
Compared to Lake Ontario, for which an executive order has already been signed, Trump's remarks that day regarding the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans remain at the "consideration" level.
Fox News reported that when signing the executive order renaming Lake Ontario, Trump further discussed the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, stating that the United States might consider renaming these two oceans. (Fox News related report)
This means that two things need to be distinguished at present: the renaming of Lake Ontario has entered the US federal administrative process, while the renaming of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans is still just a proposal put forward by Trump.
With the September 8th deadline approaching for Canada's retaliatory tariffs against the US, the battle between the two sides over tariffs, automobiles, and supply chains will continue. Trump's renaming of Lake Ontario to "Lake America" adds a symbolic layer of "geographical naming" to this already tense trade and political contest.
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