Trump signs order renaming Lake Ontario to Lake America for U.S. federal use

WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump on Thursday signed an executive order directing the Interior Department and the U.S. Board on Geographic Names to rename Lake Ontario as Lake America for federal use.

Trump told reporters in the Oval Office the change was effective immediately. The order text gives Interior Secretary Doug Burgum up to 30 days to update the Geographic Names Information System and to align federal maps, contracts and communications with the new name. The U.S. Geological Survey later said it had designated the change in official electronic documents, according to a White House post.

The move comes after U.S.-Canada trade talks collapsed and Washington imposed 50% tariffs on roughly $20 billion worth of Canadian goods. Canada has said it will match tariffs dollar for dollar beginning in September. Trump has compared the lake rename to his 2025 order that renamed the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America for U.S. federal purposes.

AP and Reuters reported that the order governs how the U.S. government refers to the lake. It does not bind Canada, New York state maps or international bodies. About half the lake's surface sits in Canada, with the rest in New York. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said the lake will remain Lake Ontario. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said New York will not adopt the new name.

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum backed the order, saying places that border the nation and support the economy should reflect the United States. Trump said he had been thinking about the rename for a long time and that the administration had filed the required notices.

There is no single international authority that sets shared water names. Mexico rejected the Gulf rename last year and fought Google Maps labeling. Similar pushback is already underway on the Great Lakes file, while U.S. federal agencies begin updating their systems.