Trump Orders Lake Ontario Renamed ‘Lake America’

By Mintesinot Nigussie  |  August 28, 2026

US President Donald Trump has ordered the federal government to rename Lake Ontario “Lake America”, directing the US Interior Department to complete the change within 30 days.

The executive order, signed on August 27, instructs the Secretary of the Interior, working with the US Board on Geographic Names, to update the Geographic Names Information System and replace federal references to Lake Ontario with “Lake America”.

Trump said the renaming recognises the lake’s economic and strategic importance to the US, citing its role in shipping, energy, drinking-water supplies, manufacturing and defence.

The order says the Great Lakes-St Lawrence Seaway system supports hundreds of thousands of US jobs and generates billions of dollars in economic activity, while facilitating the movement of commodities including iron ore, limestone, coal and agricultural products.

Trump also cited US investment in the Great Lakes. According to the order, the US has invested nearly 4 billion US dollars in protecting the freshwater ecosystem over the past decade, while the US Coast Guard operates nine of the 11 icebreaking vessels on the Great Lakes.

The president argued that the US bears a significant share of responsibility for maintaining the system, saying the Coast Guard’s icebreaking operations keep commercial shipping lanes open without charge.

Lake Ontario sits along the US-Canada border, with its southern and eastern shores in New York and its northern, western and southwestern shores in the Canadian province of Ontario. The order describes the lake as an important artery for US trade, settlement and military logistics dating back to the colonial period.

It also points to the lake’s continuing role in regional energy and water infrastructure, including supplying water to nuclear, natural gas and oil-fired power plants and providing municipal drinking water to nearby communities.

The order follows an earlier executive order signed by Trump on January 20, 2025, directing the administration to recognise what it described as landmarks reflecting American heritage.

The renaming applies to US federal government references and geographic databases. The executive order does not itself alter the lake’s location or its status as a shared US-Canadian waterway.

Source: FSX Business News