Trump moves to rename Lake Ontario to "Lake America"
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Add Axios on Google President Trump speaks during an event at the White House on August 24, 2026. Photo: Win McNamee/Getty Images
President Trump signed an executive order renaming Lake Ontario to "Lake America" on Thursday.
Why it matters: The president is following through on his threat over the lake after U.S.-Canada trade negotiations collapsed.
Catch up quick: Trump has repeatedly posted on social media in recent days about renaming the lake , once writing that America doesn't "expect to be doing much business with Ontario any longer."
By the numbers: Roughly 47% of the lake that straddles the border with the Canadian province of Ontario lies within the U.S.
What they're saying: "The United States is the greatest protector of the Great Lakes , including the body of water currently known as Lake Ontario," Trump wrote in the executive order.
The other side: Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney noted in a post on X that the lake's name is an anglicized version of an Indigenous word that predates the establishment of the Canadian province of Ontario, as he pushed back on Trump's order:
How it works: The order directs Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and his department to update the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) to reflect the renaming of the Lake within 30 days.
The big picture: It is unclear whether Trump has the authority to rename a body of water shared between two nations, as he did last year when he signed a similar order renaming the Gulf of Mexico the " Gulf of America ."
Editor's note: This story has been updated throughout with additional information.
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