Everything is coming up America – even the geography. On Thursday, August 27, President Donald Trump followed through on his threat to Canada to rename Lake Ontario. Henceforth, the smallest of the North American Great Lakes will be known as Lake America.
“We’ve notified all the various people that you need to notify,” Mr. Trump said when signing the executive order in the Oval Office. “This is official, effective immediately.” The president proposed the name change after imposing 50% tariffs on Canadian goods on Saturday, warning that he would sign the order if the trade talks with Canada didn’t go well.
They didn’t, so he did.
Goodbye Lake Ontario, Hello Lake America
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said that the US had made unacceptable demands. In result, his government on Tuesday retaliated with “dollar-for-dollar” tariffs on America products, to take effect on September 8. On Thursday, Trump then signed the executive order directing the Department of the Interior to update maps and databases to accommodate Lake America.
This is the second large body of water to get a rename, following the Gulf of Mexico’s rebranding to the Gulf of America in January of 2025. Other countries, for the most part, still use the old name – and likely will do so for the newly minted Lake America as well.
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