Carney rejects Trump's proposal to rename Lake Ontario
On Thursday, US President Donald Trump signed an executive order directing the Interior Department to rename Lake Ontario as "Lake America," while Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney criticised the move, saying the lake is called Lake Ontario "today and forever."
Names are not just words on a map. They carry the memory of generations, reflecting the history and cultural identity of the peoples who live on those shores. When one country tries to rename a shared body of water, it is perceived not as an administrative whim but as an encroachment on a common heritage. Lake Ontario, whose name in the Wendat language means "beautiful lake," has connected people on both sides of the border for four centuries. Trump's attempt to erase that name looks less like a concern for national pride and more like a disregard for history and neighbours.
"We are going to immediately change the name of Lake Ontario to Lake America," Trump said in the Oval Office before signing the order. The move came just two days after Trump said on social media that the United States was "seriously considering" changing the name of Lake Ontario to "Lake America," citing "we do not expect further cooperation with Ontario." In response, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said on Thursday that the name "Lake Ontario" has a long history and that Canadians will always use that name regardless of external changes. Carney wrote in a post on X that the name comes from the Wendat word Ontari'io, meaning "the lake beautiful, the lake big."
The name has existed for more than 400 years, "before the Canadian Confederation and the Declaration of Independence of the United States of America," the prime minister added. "We know America is changing. Its trade relations, foreign policy, national monuments, place names," Carney said. "Canadians also know that to call reality by its name is to call it Lake Ontario — then, now and always," he wrote.
Trump's attempt to rename the lake came amid the recent collapse of trade talks between the two countries, which led to the imposition of new retaliatory tariffs. On 21 August, the United States and Canada failed to reach a trade agreement, and on 22 August, the US imposed a 50 per cent tariff on Canadian goods worth about $20 billion. In response, Canada announced dollar for dollar retaliatory tariffs on US imports, set to take effect on 8 September.
Lake Ontario is one of the five Great Lakes of North America, located on the US Canada border. The Canadian province of Ontario takes its name from the lake, and for Canadians it is a symbol of national identity. The attempt to rename it amid a trade conflict is seen in Ottawa as another step by Washington towards escalating tensions. Notably, Trump has made similar attempts in the past — in 2025 he proposed renaming Greenland "Red, White and Blue," and also tried to change the name of the Gulf of Mexico.
As CCTV+ reports, the dispute over the name of Lake Ontario has become another symptom of cooling relations between the two countries. For Trump, it is part of his rhetoric about "restoring American greatness"; for Carney, it is a defence of national dignity. Yet behind this symbolic confrontation lies a real conflict: trade, tariffs and the future of North American integration. While leaders argue over names, businesses and citizens on both sides of the border are paying for this tension with rising prices and uncertainty.
