Canada claps back at Trump's 'Lake America' name change in huge embarrassment to MAGA President
Donald Trump has tried to slap a giant 'America' label on one of North America’s most famous lakes, but the Canadian Prime Minister has given the president a brutal history lesson in response.
The row has escalated after Trump signed an executive order directing the American government to rename Lake Ontario, which is bounded on the north by Ontario and on the south by New York, to Lake America.
And Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has not held back in response.
He posted on X to remind Trump that the lake’s name is centuries older than either modern Canada or the United States.
'We know that America is changing'
“The name Lake Ontario comes from the Wendat word Ontari'io, which, appropriately, means ‘the lake is beautiful, the lake is big’,” Carney said.
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The name is more than 400 years old, predating both the Confederation of Canada and the Declaration of Independence of the United States of America.
“We know that America is changing. Their trading relationships, their foreign policies, their national monuments, their hydronyms. Canadians also know that naming reality means calling it Lake Ontario - then, now and always."
Reading between the lines, Carney accepts that Trump can rename it on American government paperwork, but Canada will simply carry on calling it what it has always been named.
Trump had initially floated the idea earlier this week, saying the US was giving 'serious consideration' to changing the name because Washington did not expect to be doing much business with Ontario.
'The Lake of America was something I’ve been thinking about for a long time'
He then doubled down, posting a map with 'Lake America' written over Lake Ontario and even appearing in a video crossing out the existing name with a Sharpie.
By Thursday, the idea had become official US policy.
Trump declared: “The Lake of America was something I’ve been thinking about for a long time actually," after signing the order.
According to Global News, speaking in the Oval Office, Trump told the press it wasn't about sending a message.
“No message,” he insisted. "As you know, Canada has been ripping us off for a long time on trade, very sadly. Even the military, you know, we defend Canada for nothing, we don’t get anything."
He also called Canadian government officials 'nasty people', while joking: “Now all we need is an ocean.”
“Maybe we'll have to change the name of the Atlantic or the Pacific. Maybe we'll change them both.”
Can Trump really change the name of Lake Ontario?
Not in the way Trump appears to suggest.
There's an awkward problem for the president, in that the United States does not own Lake Ontario outright. The lake straddles the US-Canada border, meaning Washington can dictate what its own federal agencies call it, but it can't order Canada to abandon the name.
This executive order means US federal agencies will use 'Lake America' in their official geographic records.
It does not force Canada to recognise the change, nor does it automatically compel international organisations, businesses or private mapping services to adopt it.
American officials can call it Lake America, Canadians can call it Lake Ontario.
Even US politicians have pushed back.
New York Governor Kathy Hochul has said her state will not call the lake by Trump's preferred name, while Republican Vermont Governor Phil Scott described the move as 'petty and disappointing'.
The latest on the Gulf of America
During the signing of the latest executive order, Trump referred to his previous decision to rename the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America, and insisted the new name has become 'very routinely' used.
That move, ordered after Trump returned to the White House in 2025, also introduced the new name for US federal purposes, but he could not make Mexico or the rest of the world abandon the previous title.
Organisations such as the Press Association also still refer to is as the Gulf of Mexico.
The move also triggered a legal dispute between Mexico and Google, which renamed the gulf on the maps.
According to the BBC, Google Maps users in the US see 'Gulf of America', while those in Mexico see the 'Gulf of Mexico'. However, those in other countries see the 'Gulf of Mexico (Gulf of America)'.
Topics: Politics, Donald Trump, US News
Jen Thomas