Trump signs executive order to rename Lake Ontario to ‘Lake America’

U.S. President Donald Trump turned online provocation to reality Thursday afternoon, after putting pen to paper in the Oval Office, signing an executive order to change Lake Ontario’s name to “Lake America.”

The move comes as trade tensions worsen between Canada and the White House.

Trump officials continue with blowback over failed talks, claiming the Carney government were the only ones who made last-minute changes to Friday’s meeting.

U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick went a step further, claiming that Canadian officials walked away from the negotiating table for “political purposes.”

The comments came right after Trump made the order to rename Lake Ontario.

READ MORE: Trump floats renaming Lake Ontario as ‘Lake America’ as trade war with Canada escalates

“The lake change, to Lake of America, is something I’ve been thinking about for a long time, actually,” said Trump.

Just two days after giving it consideration, Trump made it official and renamed Lake Ontario to “Lake America” in the United States.

“We’re going to be changing the name of Lake Ontario, effective immediately, to Lake America,” said Trump. “That’s going to take place right now as I sign the order.”

Trump signed the executive order in the Oval Office Thursday.

The move only applies to U.S. Federal documents and geographic services, but some online map services and American news agencies also made the change.

This, following Trump’s order to change the Gulf of Mexico to the “Gulf of America.”

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Thursday afternoon, Prime Minister Mark Carney posted a response on social media, saying “Lake Ontario is a Wendat word Ontari’io, which appropriately means ‘the lake is beautiful, the lake is big’.”

“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,” the post goes on to say, adding, “Canadians also know that naming reality means calling it Lake Ontario – then, now and always.”

“We’re still gonna call it Lake Ontario,” said Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown. “I think many of you will still call it Lake Ontario, and the only person who’s gonna have trouble with what to call it is the president. The whole notion is a bit preposterous, and just like if our prime minister wanted to rename the Mississippi, you’d probably get a chuckle out of it.”

Trump’s name change also comes after his recent spat with Ontario Premier Doug Ford, over failed trade talks between Canada and the U.S.

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“When your country is under attack, and your province is under attack and this guy is nothing but a bully, it resonated around the world,” said Ford.

Meanwhile, White House officials dealt with more blowback Thursday, after their negotiations broke down at the 11th hour last week.

Despite no official release of the details of the failed deal, the New York Times reports that Canada did not want to give up autonomy when it comes to trade around the world, while the U.S. did not want to give concessions on tariffs related to auto.

“The words ‘medium’ and ‘heavy-duty trucks’ were raised in these trade negotiations at Friday, at 4 o’clock,” said Lutnick. “We had a deal, we shook hands, the president announced it right, everybody was positive — Canada made the decision for political purposes, they wanted to walk away.

Canada-U.S. Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc said earlier Thursday that the White House confirmed that Canada’s language protections won’t be the subject of future trade actions, after questions about the French language and online streaming services during talks.

As for Trump’s naming of Lake Ontario, Ford posted on X writing in part, “It’s Lake Ontario to Canadians and the rest of the World. Now and forever.”

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