Trump Trolls Canada With Series of Actions

President Donald Trump escalated his feud with Canada on Thursday by formally renaming Lake Ontario “Lake America” for United States federal usage.

The president previewed the change in a video posted to his TikTok account, where he displayed a printed map of Lake Ontario while sitting behind the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office.

“So this is Lake Ontario, in Canada and in the United States,” Trump said. “But we’re gonna make a little change.”

“We’re gonna call it something different than Lake Ontario. We’re gonna call it Lake America. And all it takes is a good pen and some intelligence,” he added.

Trump then picked up his trademark black Sharpie, crossed out “Lake Ontario” and wrote “Lake America” across the map.

“So Lake Ontario, that’s gone. Lake America,” Trump declared.

“So now we have a lake, and now we have a gulf, because we have the Gulf of America,” he continued. “Now we have Lake America, without the ‘of.’ Thank you very much, everybody. Enjoy Lake America.”

What initially appeared to be another example of Trump trolling Canadian officials quickly became official American policy.

Trump signed an executive order Thursday directing the Interior Department and other federal agencies to use “Lake America” on government maps, documents and databases.

The order applies only to the United States government.

It does not require Canada, international organizations, state governments or private mapping companies to recognize the new designation. Approximately 52 percent of the lake’s surface is located on the Canadian side of the international border, with the remainder bordering New York.

The administration began implementing the change almost immediately, with the United States Geological Survey updating federal geographic records.

Trump had first publicly floated the idea Tuesday as trade negotiations with Canada deteriorated.

“The United States is giving serious consideration to changing the name of Lake Ontario to Lake America in that we don’t expect to doing much business with Ontario any longer,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “Thank you for your attention to this matter!”

The unusual move came after three days of intensive trade negotiations between the United States and Canada collapsed, with each government blaming the other for the failure to reach an agreement.

The dispute involves tariffs on tens of billions of dollars in cross-border trade, including steep American duties on Canadian goods and Ottawa’s promise to respond with retaliatory measures.

Trump has repeatedly accused Canada of taking advantage of the United States through unfair trade arrangements while depending heavily on access to American consumers.

Earlier this week, he delivered a blunt assessment of the relationship.

“WE DON’T NEED CANADA, THEY NEED US!” Trump wrote.

The president’s decision to rename the lake appears intended as both a symbolic assertion of American power and a direct provocation aimed at Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and Ontario Premier Doug Ford.

Canadian officials immediately rejected the new name.

Carney noted that Lake Ontario’s existing name predates the formation of both the United States and Canada.

“Canadians also know that naming reality means calling it Lake Ontario, then, now and always,” Carney said.

New York Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul likewise said her state would continue using the traditional name.

“New York won’t be calling it that,” Hochul wrote.

The change also drew criticism from Indigenous leaders because the name Ontario is derived from a Native word commonly translated as “beautiful lake,” “great lake” or “lake of shining waters.”

The federal designation nevertheless remains within the president’s authority over executive-branch usage. The Trump administration previously followed a similar process when it adopted “Gulf of America” as the federal name for the Gulf of Mexico in 2025.

Canada and Mexico are not obligated to recognize Washington’s chosen names for shared international bodies of water.

Trump appeared to be enjoying the controversy and even suggested he might not be finished renaming major geographic features.

“We have a gulf and we have a lake, now all we need is an ocean,” Trump told reporters.

“So maybe we’ll have to change the name of the Atlantic and or the Pacific. Maybe we’ll change them both,” he added.

The latest episode comes during one of the most contentious periods in modern relations between Washington and Ottawa.

Since returning to the White House, Trump has repeatedly suggested that Canada could become America’s 51st state, an idea Canadian leaders have emphatically rejected.

The president has also accused Canada of failing to manage the wildfires whose smoke has drifted into American communities, threatening further economic penalties if Ottawa does not address the problem.

Another dispute involved the Gordie Howe International Bridge connecting Detroit, Michigan, and Windsor, Ontario.

Trump threatened to block the bridge’s opening while demanding a greater American stake in the project. The crossing eventually opened in July, but a planned joint celebration was canceled amid renewed tariff tensions.

The disputes over trade, border infrastructure, wildfire smoke and Trump’s statehood rhetoric have transformed relations between the two longtime allies.

The “Lake America” order will have little direct effect on the enormous volume of commerce crossing the northern border. Canada can continue calling the waterway Lake Ontario, and private organizations remain free to use whichever designation they choose.

Politically, however, Trump’s message is unmistakable.

The president is warning Canadian officials that the days of Washington accepting trade arrangements he considers one-sided are over. Even a centuries-old geographic name is not safe when Trump believes another country is taking advantage of the United States.

Critics have dismissed the Sharpie stunt as petty and counterproductive.

Trump’s supporters are more likely to see something familiar: a president using humor, spectacle and public pressure to dominate attention while reminding a foreign government that access to the American economy cannot be taken for granted.

For federal agencies, at least, Lake Ontario is now Lake America.