US President Donald Trump has ordered the federal government to rename Lake Ontario “Lake America”, injecting a fresh diplomatic flashpoint into an escalating trade war with Canada. Trump signed an executive order directing the US Department of the Interior and the US Board on Geographic Names to adopt the new name for federal use, with agencies required to update maps, contracts and official documents.
The move follows the breakdown of US-Canada trade negotiations and Washington’s imposition of tariffs of up to 50 per cent on about $20bn of Canadian goods. Canada has announced retaliatory tariffs on a similar value of US imports, while Trump has threatened additional 50 per cent tariffs on Canadian vehicles and automotive parts from January.
Trump had previewed the renaming earlier this week, linking it directly to deteriorating trade ties. “We don’t expect to be doing much business with Ontario any longer,” he wrote. The executive order argues that the US deserves greater recognition for its role in protecting the Great Lakes, citing billions of dollars in environmental spending and the US Coast Guard’s icebreaking operations.
However, the move applies only to US federal usage. Lake Ontario is a binational body of water shared by the US and Canada, and Washington cannot compel Canada, international organisations or foreign mapmakers to adopt the new designation. Canadian officials have rejected the change.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford said Canadians would continue to call it Lake Ontario. The renaming echoes Trump’s earlier decision to rename the Gulf of Mexico the “Gulf of America”, but its timing gives the latest move a sharper economic edge, as the two neighbours face their most serious trade confrontation in years.