Canada has responded to US President Donald Trump’s attempt to rename Lake Ontario by putting up a giant sign on its shoreline declaring the body of water to be “Lake Ontario. Now and Always.”
Ontario Premier Doug Ford unveiled the sign in a pointed response to Trump’s executive order seeking to rename the lake “Lake America.”
“Long before President Trump, this lake was called Lake Ontario. Long after President Trump is gone, it will still be called Lake Ontario,” Ford said.
The latest dispute comes amid worsening tensions between Canada and the United States after trade negotiations broke down.
The US has imposed an additional 50% tariff on about $20bn (C$28bn) worth of Canadian goods, prompting Ottawa to announce plans for matching counter-tariffs next month.
Trump said his order to rename the lake took immediate effect.
However, while the US president has authority over how geographical features are officially recognised within the United States, his decision does not compel Canada or other countries to adopt the new name.
Canadian authorities have rejected the renaming, maintaining that the lake’s established name remains Lake Ontario.
Trump has also taken the dispute to social media.
On Saturday, he shared several AI-generated videos, including one showing him kicking over a Lake Ontario sign and replacing it with a sign reading, “Welcome to Lake America.”
Another AI-generated clip showed Canada geese styled with Trump’s distinctive hair and carrying rifles while patrolling the shoreline of what was depicted as the newly named Lake America.
Ford accused Trump of targeting the lake because he “didn’t like Ontario and Canada standing up for ourselves”.
Speaking beside the newly installed sign, Ford said, “Just in case President Trump or anyone else forgets, we’ve set up this sign to remind them, it’s Lake Ontario, now and forever.”
The Ontario premier’s comments echo Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney’s earlier response to the controversy.
Carney had insisted that “things must be called by their name, and this lake is called Lake Ontario – today and forever”.
Lake Ontario is the smallest of North America’s five Great Lakes and sits along the border between Canada’s Ontario province and New York state in the US.
Four of the Great Lakes — Ontario, Huron, Michigan and Erie, have names derived from Indigenous languages, while Lake Superior’s name comes from an anglicised French term.
Under Trump’s executive order, the US Department of the Interior has 30 days to update the lake’s name in the Geographic Names Information Service, the official US database for domestic geographical names.
The dispute mirrors Trump’s earlier decision to rename the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America after returning to the White House in 2025.
Mexico rejected that move, arguing that the United States could not unilaterally rename an international body of water shared by both countries.
The Gulf of Mexico dispute also resulted in a legal battle involving Google after the technology company changed the name displayed on its Maps service.
Google Maps users in the US see “Gulf of America”, while users in Mexico see “Gulf of Mexico”. In other countries, the platform displays “Gulf of Mexico (Gulf of America)”.
