Ontario Premier Doug Ford has mounted a public counter to Donald Trump’s executive order renaming Lake Ontario as Lake America, unveiling a large sign on Canada’s shoreline. The sign bears the words: “Lake Ontario. Now and Always.”
Standing before the new sign, Ford was direct.
“Long before President Trump, this lake was called Lake Ontario. Long after President Trump is gone, it will still be called Lake Ontario,” he said.
He attributed Trump’s move to Canada’s refusal to back down in the ongoing trade dispute, saying the renaming was because Trump “didn’t like Ontario and Canada standing up for ourselves.”
Trump signed the executive order on Thursday, directing the US Department of the Interior to update the name in the Geographic Names Information Service within 30 days. He followed the order on Saturday with a series of AI-generated videos posted to social media. One showed him kicking over a Lake Ontario sign and replacing it with one reading “Welcome to Lake America.” Another depicted Canada geese wearing his hair and carrying rifles as they patrolled the renamed shoreline.
Deteriorating Trade Relations
The renaming push comes as trade relations between the two countries deteriorate sharply. The US has imposed new 50 percent tariffs on 20 billion dollars of Canadian goods. Canada has announced it will implement dollar-for-dollar counter-tariffs in response next month.
Canadian officials have been unified in dismissing the move. Prime Minister Mark Carney had previously insisted that “things must be called by their name, and this lake is called Lake Ontario — today and forever.” Ford’s sign puts that sentiment into concrete form on the waterfront.
While Trump holds broad authority over how the United States formally recognises landmarks, no other country is obligated to follow. Lake Ontario, the smallest of the five Great Lakes, straddles both the Canadian province of Ontario and the US state of New York. Its name, like those of Lakes Huron, Michigan, and Erie, originates from indigenous language. Canada has made no indication it intends to change that.
Trump pulled the same move with the Gulf of Mexico in 2025, renaming it the Gulf of America by executive order. However, Mexico rejected the change. It led to a legal dispute with Google, which now shows different names on its maps depending on the user’s location.
