Washington Announces Name Change for Cross-Border Lake
The White House announced on August 28 that President Donald Trump has ordered a federal rename of Lake Ontario to "Lake America." The decision, presented as a move to recognize the United States’ leading role in the Great Lakes region, mandates that all U.S. government agencies replace the historic name in official records, maps and contracts within a month.
The order directs the Interior Secretary to work with the Federal Board on Geographic Names to finalize the change. While the lake straddles the border between the United States and Canada, the directive applies solely to American federal usage and does not compel Canadian provinces, the Ontario government or private cartographers to adopt the new terminology.
In his remarks, Trump cited the United States’ investment of roughly $4 billion in Great Lakes environmental and security projects over the past decade, asserting that this outweighs Canadian contributions. He also highlighted that nine of the eleven ice‑breaking vessels operating in the Great Lakes are under U.S. Coast Guard control, and that American policies keep key shipping lanes open without charges.
The order references the deep‑water portion of the lake that lies in U.S. waters, claiming U.S. rights over the majority of its freshwater reserves. Historical context is provided, recalling the strategic importance of Oswego, New York—a former fort and early American port on the St. Lawrence River—and the shipbuilding activities at Sackett’s Harbor during the 1812 war.
According to the administration, the Great Lakes–St. Lawrence corridor supports hundreds of thousands of jobs and generates billions in annual trade, moving commodities such as iron ore, limestone, coal and agricultural products. The lake’s water also powers nuclear, natural‑gas and coal power plants and supplies drinking water to nearby communities. Trump concluded that the lake will continue to shape America’s economic future and ordered all federal entities to use the name "Lake America" in every official context.