RismadarVoice Reporters
August 27, 2026
US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order seeking to rename Lake Ontario “Lake America”, in a move that comes amid heightened tensions between the United States and Canada over trade.
Trump signed the order on Thursday in the Oval Office and announced that the new name would take effect immediately.
“This is official effective immediately,” Trump said after signing the order.
The move follows repeated statements by the president in which he had threatened to rename the lake amid an escalating trade dispute between Washington and Ottawa.
Lake Ontario is one of the five Great Lakes of North America and is shared by the United States and Canada. The lake borders the US state of New York and the Canadian province of Ontario.
The proposed name change comes against the backdrop of ongoing disagreements between the two neighbouring countries over tariffs and other trade measures introduced by the Trump administration.
Trump has previously used naming changes and other symbolic measures as part of his broader policy agenda, with his administration maintaining that such actions reflect American interests.
The latest order is expected to attract attention in both the United States and Canada, given the lake’s geographical and historical significance to both countries.
The extent to which the United States can unilaterally change the name used internationally for the shared body of water remains a matter of significance, as geographical names can be governed differently by national and international authorities.
The White House has not indicated whether Canada has agreed to adopt the proposed name.
