‘Lake America’: Trump Floats Renaming Lake Ontario Amid Canada Tensions

A Canadian flag waving over Lake Ontario. —Erman Gunes—iStock/Getty Images President Donald Trump on Tuesday floated the idea of renaming Lake Ontario to “Lake America,” amid escalating tensions between the U.S. and Canada.

“The United States is giving serious consideration to changing the name of Lake Ontario to Lake America in that we don’t expect to be doing much business with Ontario any longer,” Trump said in a Truth Social post .

Later that morning, he shared on social media an image of a map depicting the lake, with a red X over “Lake Ontario” and the words “Lake America” above it in large gold letters next to a U.S. flag.

Lake Ontario is one of the five Great Lakes in North America, which together compose the largest freshwater system in the world.

It borders the Canadian province of Ontario, which was named after the lake, as well as the U.S. state of New York.

Trump’s threat to rename the lake is reminiscent of his previous push to call the Gulf of Mexico the “Gulf of America.” It is possible that Trump could order the U.S. federal government to refer to Lake Ontario as “Lake America,” but he cannot require other nations to adhere to the change.

When he signed an Executive Order last year to call the Gulf of Mexico the “Gulf of America,” the directive only applied to the U.S. federal government, and other nations continue to refer to the body of water as the Gulf of Mexico.

Many other entities—such as The Associated Press , which sets style guidelines that many news outlets follow—have also stuck to the original name for the gulf.

The U.S. and Canada also have a 1989 agreement regarding the coordination of names for geographical features shared between the two nations, which emphasizes the importance of both sides using the same name for the same feature “where culturally acceptable,” and says that “it is highly desirable to retain established official names.” According to the document, a name change could be considered “for purpose of conformance to strong local usage or citizen preference, or on special request with strong specific reasons.” The origin of the lake’s name, which derives from Indigenous words referring to the lake, predates the founding of both countries.

Tough talks Trump’s threat to rename Lake Ontario comes after trade talks between the U.S. and Canada broke down on Friday.

The following day, the Trump Administration’s 50% tariffs on about $20 billion worth of imported Canadian goods went into effect.

On Tuesday, Canada announced that it would impose retaliatory levies —reaching as high as 50% on some items—starting on Sept.

8.

Both countries have blamed the other for trade negotiations collapsing.