President Donald Trump made good on his latest America First promise Thursday, signing an executive order that renames Lake Ontario “Lake America” for federal purposes.
Trump unveiled the order from the Oval Office just two days after announcing that his administration was considering the striking change amid a rapidly escalating trade battle with Canada.
The executive order, titled “Honoring the American History of the Great Lakes and Renaming Lake Ontario as Lake America,” recognizes what the administration describes as America’s unmatched role in protecting and maintaining the Great Lakes.
“The United States is the greatest protector of the Great Lakes,” the order states, according to a document displayed in a photo shared by Fox News.
The order notes that the United States supplies nine of the 11 icebreaking vessels operating across the Great Lakes and has invested nearly $4 billion in protecting the freshwater ecosystem over the past decade.
It also describes the body of water formerly known as Lake Ontario as “a tremendous asset to the United States” and an integral part of America’s history, commerce and national defense.
Trump first teased the dramatic move Tuesday after trade negotiations between Washington and Ottawa broke down.
“The United States is giving serious consideration to changing the name of Lake Ontario to Lake America in that we don’t expect to be doing much business with Ontario any longer,” Trump announced on Truth Social.
The following day, Trump suggested Canada should take the warning seriously.
“You know, people thought I was kidding. Maybe I wasn’t,” Trump told Glenn Beck. “So now we have a Gulf, and we have a lake.”
The White House has accused Canadian leaders of maintaining unfair barriers against American automobiles, dairy products and alcoholic beverages while rejecting a favorable trade proposal from the Trump administration.
“Canadian leadership chose retaliation over partnership — and America is no longer willing to carry them,” the White House declared this week.
Canada has responded by announcing matching tariffs on $27.6 billion worth of American products beginning Sept. 8.
The move follows Trump’s 2025 executive order renaming the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America. Like that change, the Lake America designation will govern federal maps, documents and communications but will not force Canada to recognize the new name.
