Trump says he’s considering renaming Lake Ontario as ‘Lake America’ as trade war escalates
Aug 25, 2026, 4:20 AM | Updated: 2:40 pm
The Rainbow Bridge crosses from the United States (L), into Canada near the Niagara Falls, which straddles the U.S.-Canada border, on the Niagara River, draining Lake Erie into Lake Ontario. (Photo: John Moore, Getty Images)
(Photo: John Moore, Getty Images)
President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he is considering changing the name of Lake Ontario to “Lake America” as the trade war between the United States and Canada intensifies.
Such a change would be reminiscent of the Republican president’s unilateral action last year by executive order to rename the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America.
The United States and Canada are locked in a trade dispute, with Canada expected Tuesday to announce retaliatory measures after the Trump administration enacted 50% tariffs on $20 billion of Canadian goods over the weekend after talks between the countries 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 doing much business with Ontario any longer,” Trump said Tuesday on social media.
Ontario is a province in Canada.
