Can Trump actually change Lake Ontario to ‘Lake America’? Here’s what to know
By Aleena Fayaz, CNN
(CNN) — Amid a growing trade war with one of the United States’ closest allies, President Donald Trump on Thursday moved to rename Lake Ontario to “Lake America,” needling Canada further after trade talks collapsed.
Trump’s executive order marks the president’s latest attempt to use rebranding as an assertion of power — after signing an order to rename the Gulf of Mexico on his first day back in office.
Trump has wide latitude over how the US government refers to geographic landmarks, but he can’t force other countries to follow suit. Here’s what to know:
Why is Trump doing this?
Trump had been floating the name change since trade talks between the US and Canada fell apart last week.
The president enacted 50% tariffs on roughly $20 billion worth of Canadian goods over the weekend, and Canada quickly followed suit by announcing increased tariffs on various US products. Trump has threatened to further escalate if Canada doesn’t back down, though talks seem to be on hold for now.
“‘Lake of America’ was something I’ve been thinking about for a long time,” Trump said Thursday in the Oval Office, flanked by a map titled “Making the Great Lakes Even Greater.” “We have a gulf and we have a lake. Now, all we need is an ocean. So, maybe we’ll have to change the name of the Atlantic and/or the Pacific. Maybe we’ll change them both.”
Can he actually change the name?
Trump can legally change the way the US government refers to geographic landmarks. Thursday’s executive order tasks Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and the Board on Geographic Names to rename Lake Ontario “Lake America” within 30 days, including updating the Geographic Names Information System and removing “all references to Lake Ontario, consistent with applicable law.”
Trump also directed the Board on Geographic Names to provide guidance on the name change within the federal government, so agency maps, contracts, documents and communications state “Lake America” instead.
“We haven’t seen ‘Gulf of America’ tested because the Congress has remained in GOP hands,” said Tim Naftali, a senior research scholar at New York University and CNN’s presidential historian. “Any reference to that Great Lake will change, but other than that it has no effect. Certainly not on Canada and the rest of the world.”
While a Republican-controlled Congress may support the name change, Democrats are eyeing key House and Senate seats that could give them congressional majority during the final two years of Trump’s second term.
The House Democrats official X account wrote Thursday, “It’s too expensive to live and Donald Trump is renaming lakes.”
What impact will the change have outside of the US?
Lake Ontario is jointly controlled by Canada and the United States, per the Boundary Waters Treaty, enacted in the early 20th century to prevent and settle disputes over the use of the shared waters.
Because of this, Trump’s executive order will apply only to official documents and maps of the federal government, hinging on a US statute that mandates uniformity in geographic nomenclature and orthography.
Former federal prosecutor Alyse Adamson told CNN the name change will have “zero impact” on anybody who is not within the jurisdiction of the United States.
“We have to stop thinking of it as a name change of the body of water, and simply a change in how the United States refers to it,” said CNN legal analyst Elliot Williams. “The US can’t compel the rest of the world to refer … to a body of water by America’s chosen name.”
When will it start to take effect in the US?
Trump said in the Oval Office on Thursday the order would be effective immediately.
Geological Survey Director Ned Mamula said Thursday, in a message the White House posted on social media, that the agency has already designated the name change in all official USGS electronic documents.
The change in printed documents will happen over the next several days, Mamula added.
How did Lake Ontario get its name?
Lake Ontario, which borders New York state and the Canadian province of Ontario, was first named by Canada’s indigenous population who lived around the body of water, according to Naftali. It’s been called Lake Ontario since the 17th Century.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney wrote on social media Thursday that the name is more than 400 years old, predating the founding of both the US and Canada.
“The name Lake Ontario comes from the Wendat word Ontari’io, which, appropriately, means ‘the lake is beautiful, the lake is big,’” he wrote.
What are Canadians saying?
Carney pushed back on Trump’s move in his Thursday post, writing that his country would “forever” call it Lake Ontario.
“We know that the United States is changing. Their trade relations, their foreign policy, their national monuments, their hydronyms. Canadian women and men also know that things must be called by their name, and this lake is called Lake Ontario — today and forever,” he said.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford, who has been outspoken against Trump’s tariffs threats, echoed Carney in his own post: “It’s Lake Ontario to Canadians and the rest of the world. Now and forever.”
Canada could theoretically rename Lake Superior if it wanted to, Naftali, who is Canadian American, told CNN.
“You know to play the same game, Canada could rename Lake Superior, ‘Lake Obama,’ and I think that would go over really well in the White House,” Naftali said.
CNN’s Kit Maher contributed to this story.
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