U.S. President Donald Trump, with U.S. Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum, speaks to the media after signing an executive order renaming Lake Ontario as Lake America at the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., August 27, 2026. REUTERS/Evan Vucci
President Donald Trump’s order to rename Lake Ontario “Lake America” unleashed a wave of ridicule Thursday - and an immediate correction about the centuries-old name.
“We’re into some real foolishness now,” Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston wrote on social media. “It’s Lake Ontario, buddy.”
Trump signed an executive order directing the Interior Department to adopt “Lake America” for use on federal maps and documents, declaring the move “official and effective immediately.”
“Holy sh** — the purpose of this Trump event is to announce that he’s changing the name of Lake Ontario to ‘Lake America,’” journalist Aaron Rupar wrote. “It will be interesting to see which, if any, institutions and companies go along with this”
Critics were also quick to note an apparent flaw in Trump’s name change, a move that came days after U.S.-Canada trade talks collapsed and the White House circulated an AI-generated map bearing Trump’s preferred name for the lake.
“Is someone going to tell Trump that the lake wasn’t named after the province of Ontario?” Bulwark journalist Sam Stein asked his X followers.
Veteran congressional reporter Jamie Dupree offered clarification in his post: “Lake Ontario is not named for the Canadian province. It comes from a word used by the Iroquois and Huron tribes.”
Ontario is commonly translated as “lake of shining water” or “great lake,” according to The Associated Press.
“Now do you believe me when I tell you he is completely insane?”Canadian columnist Andrew Coyne wrote on social media.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), meanwhile, accused Trump of refusing to focus on Americans’ economic concerns.
“No, President Trump. The American people don’t want to rename Lake Ontario Lake America,” Sanders wrote on X. “They want affordable healthcare, childcare, housing, education & nutrition assistance — all of which you have massively cut in order to pay for your $1 trillion tax break to the top 1%.”
Republicans Against Trump summed it up more bluntly: “The laughing stock of the world.”
We're into some real foolishness now. It's Lake Ontario, buddy.
— Tim Houston (@TimHoustonNS) August 27, 2026