Aug. 28, 2026, 1:30 p.m. ET
Lake Ontario will quickly be often known as Lake America, a minimum of in america, after President Donald Trump signed an government order directing his administration to rename the physique of water sitting between america and Canada.
Trump’s order, which he signed within the Oval Workplace on Aug. 27, instructs the Division of the Inside and the U.S. Board on Geographic Names to formalize the change inside 30 days. As he signed the order, Trump in contrast the transfer to his motion final 12 months to rename the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America.
“If you consider it, we now have a gulf, and we now have a lake, now all we want is an ocean,” Trump stated. “So possibly we’ll have to alter the identify of the Atlantic and/or the Pacific.”
The transfer comes amid a quickly escalating commerce conflict with Canada, with Trump threatening the motion for days.
Here is what to learn about Lake Ontario, the easternmost of the Nice Lakes, one of many world’s largest floor freshwater ecosystems.
Can Trump legally change the identify of Lake Ontario?
Whereas Trump can legally change the best way america refers to geographic landmarks by an government order, it doesn’t apply internationally, particularly to a shared physique of water, and there’s no governing physique that may pressure different international locations to make use of the brand new identify.
Within the case of Lake Ontario, the water physique is collectively managed by america and Canada underneath the Boundary Waters Treaty of 1909, enacted to stop and settle disputes over using the shared waters. Due to this, Trump’s government order will apply to official federal authorities paperwork and maps, primarily based on a statute that mandates uniformity in geographic nomenclature and orthography.
There isn’t any single, binding worldwide authority that determines what each nation should name a shared physique of water, Al-Jazeera reported, however a number of worldwide our bodies such because the United Nations Group of Specialists on Geographical Names assist mediate discrepancies.
“As basic to the necessity for world standardization of geographical names, UNGEGN promotes the recording of locally-used names reflecting the languages and traditions of a rustic,” the group says on its web site. “…Geographers, linguists, cartographers and planners are amongst these specialists who develop the instruments, harness the expertise, present the outreach, and share the idea that correct and constant use of a standard framework of geographical names can provide appreciable advantages to the world.”
The place is Lake Ontario?
The smallest of the 5 Nice Lakes, by floor space, Lake Ontario sits on the border between the Canadian province of Ontario to the north and New York to the south.
The lake can be the second-smallest Nice Lake by quantity, holding about 393 cubic miles of water, in accordance with the Nationwide Museum of the Nice Lakes.
The lake, fashioned 1000’s of years in the past as glaciers carved the Nice Lakes basin over the last ice age, is a widely known vacation spot for boating, fishing, birdwatching and swimming, with parks and seashores alongside its shores on each side of the border.
Why did Trump rename Lake Ontario to Lake America?
Trump’s renaming of the lake follows his sweeping 50% tariffs slapped on many items from Canada after commerce negotiations between the 2 international locations fell aside final week, USA TODAY beforehand reported. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney countered by hitting U.S. exports with tariffs starting from 15% to 50%. Trump has threatened to additionally double tariffs on vehicles and auto components from Canada from 25% to 50%.
“The Canadian officers have handled us very badly. They’re nasty folks,” Trump stated, accusing Canada of imposing monumental tariffs on merchandise from American farmers.
Though Lake Ontario varieties the shoreline of Toronto, Canada’s largest metropolis, White Home workers secretary Ben Moss stated many of the lake’s quantity, together with its deepest components, is in U.S. territory.
“This can replicate that that is an American lake,” Moss stated.
Canada rejects identify change
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, in a press release following Trump’s order, stated the lake’s identify for Canadians will at all times stay Lake Ontario.
“The identify is greater than 400 years previous, predating each the Confederation of Canada and the Declaration of Independence of america of America,” Carney stated. “We all know that America is altering. Their buying and selling relationships, their overseas insurance policies, their nationwide monuments, their hydronyms. Canadians additionally know that naming actuality means calling it Lake Ontario — then, now and at all times.”
Lake Ontario’s identify dates again to the seventeenth century and comes from the native Iroquois tribe’s phrase “Ontarí’io,” that means “lake of shining waters,” per the Middle for Nice Lakes Literacy. The identify started showing on European explorers’ maps within the 1660s.
Earlier than Trump signed the manager order, Canada’s minister of business, Mélanie Joly, rejected the proposal to change the lake’s identify on Aug. 25, saying, “We’ll at all times name it Lake Ontario. Interval,” to applause.
Will Lake Ontario’s identify change on Google Maps?
After the Gulf of Mexico was formally renamed Gulf of America in america, Google in a press release, stated that it could be complying with the identify change as a part of a long-standing follow of adhering to official authorities names.,
“We have now a longstanding follow of making use of identify adjustments once they have been up to date in official authorities sources,” Google stated.
The Geographic Names Data System, which is underneath america Geological Survey, supplies the names utilized in Google Maps.
Nonetheless, the identify change applies to america, and Google, in its assertion, stated that, relying on areas, each “relevant names can be proven,” USA TODAY beforehand reported.
“When official names differ between international locations, Maps customers see their official native identify,” Google stated. “Everybody in the remainder of the world sees each names. That applies right here too.”
An instance of this follow is the Sea of Japan, or the East Sea, a reputation disputed between Japan and South Korea. In Google Maps in america, the ocean is designated because the Sea of Japan (East Sea).
By Google adhering to the Geographic Names Data System, Lake Ontario will doubtless seem as Lake America for U.S. residents on Google Maps. USA TODAY contacted Google relating to the identify change on Aug. 27, however has not acquired a response.
Not the primary time Trump modified a reputation
Final 12 months, Trump rebranded the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America by an government order, saying the identify had a “lovely ring.” The worldwide group, together with Mexico, nonetheless, nonetheless refers back to the physique of water because the Gulf of Mexico.
Trump additionally renamed the Division of Protection to the “Division of Conflict” by an government order, saying it had a “stronger sound.” The company was final known as the “Division of Conflict” in 1947, when it was modified throughout a Cupboard reorganization underneath President Harry Truman after World Conflict II.
“It was known as the Division of Conflict, and it had a stronger sound,” Trump stated on the time concerning the rebrand. “And as you already know, we received World Conflict I, we received World Conflict II. We received every thing.”
The Trump administration additionally modified the identify of the tallest mountain in North America from Mount Denali to Mount McKinley. Alaska officers lengthy known as the mountain Denali; nonetheless, federal officers didn’t use that identify till President Barack Obama aligned it in 2015.
Contributing: Joey Garrison, Kinsey Crowley, Fernando Cervantes Jr. / USA TODAY
Saman Shafiq is a trending information reporter for USA TODAY. Attain her at sshafiq@usatodayco.com and comply with her on X and Instagram @saman_shafiq7.
