Trump Renames Lake Ontario “Lake America,” Canada Refuses to Accept

PM Mark Carney: Canada Will Always Call It Lake Ontario
US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order renaming Lake Ontario — which straddles the US-Canada border — as “Lake America.” Speaking in the Oval Office before signing the order, Trump said: “We are going to immediately change the name of Lake Ontario to Lake America. I’m signing the order right now.” He added that the move carried no particular message, but that he had been considering it for a long time.
A day earlier, amid an ongoing trade dispute with Canada, Trump had posted a video on social media symbolically showing Lake Ontario relabeled as “Lake America” on a map.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney responded swiftly, saying that despite Trump’s renaming, Canada would continue to call it Lake Ontario. Writing on the social media platform X, Carney said: “We know the US is renaming trade relationships, foreign policies, national monuments, and bodies of water too. But Canadians know what it’s really called — Lake Ontario. Was, is, and always will be.”
Carney noted that the lake’s name derives from an Indigenous language and dates back more than four centuries — predating both Canadian Confederation and the American Declaration of Independence. He explained that “Ontario” comes from the Wyandot (Huron) word meaning “beautiful lake” or “great lake,” a name over 400 years old.
Lake Ontario lies on the US-Canada border, with shores touching the US state of New York and the Canadian province of Ontario.