Lake Ontario in New York Could Get a New Name Under Trump Proposal

The next time you head out to Lake Ontario, it might not go by that name. A real conversation is happening right now about giving New York's Great Lake a new name, and it's coming straight out of Washington as part of ongoing trade discussions with Canada.

New York Shares Lake Ontario With Ontario, Canada

Lake Ontario is the smallest of the five Great Lakes by surface area, but it's a big deal to anyone living along its New York shoreline. The lake forms part of the border between New York State and the Canadian province of Ontario, with cities like Rochester sitting right on the water on our side and Toronto anchoring the Canadian side, according to the Wall Street Journal. New York and Ontario each manage their own portion of the lakebed and shoreline, and the two countries jointly handle water quality and resource issues through the International Joint Commission.

Trump Considers Renaming Lake Ontario to Lake America

President Trump raised the idea in a social media post Tuesday, saying the United States is weighing the name change "in that we don't expect to doing much business with Ontario any longer," as reported by The Hill. It's not the first time he's floated renaming a shared body of water. Last year he signed an executive order changing the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America, and the Associated Press notes this idea follows that same pattern.

What the Tariffs Mean for New York and the Great Lakes Region

The renaming talk is tied to a real trade dispute with real economic stakes for border states like ours. Negotiations between Washington and Ottawa broke down on August 21, and new 50 percent U.S. tariffs took effect on about $20 billion worth of Canadian goods, which works out to roughly 5.5 percent of Canada's total exports to the United States, according to CNN. The list of affected products is broad, ranging from hockey sticks to cement. Canada has said it will respond with matching dollar-for-dollar tariffs starting September 8. The AP reports that the U.S. and Canada share one of the largest trading relationships in the world, with supply chains for autos, energy, agriculture, and manufacturing running back and forth across the border, so a prolonged dispute could affect prices and jobs in border communities on both sides.

How the Talks Broke Down

Prime Minister Mark Carney's government withdrew from the trade talks before the new tariffs took effect, and Trump has since threatened to raise tariffs on Canadian vehicles, auto parts and steel to 50 percent starting January 1, 2027, per CNN. Carney has said Canada may shift toward more targeted retaliation aimed at protecting its own workers and industries rather than matching U.S. tariffs dollar for dollar across the board, according to the AP.

What It Would Actually Take to Rename the Lake

For now, this is a proposal, not a done deal, and the Gulf of Mexico situation shows why a lake shared with another country is a different challenge. After Trump's 2025 executive order, U.S. agencies and the Coast Guard adopted the name Gulf of America, and the Republican-led House passed a bill in May 2025 to codify it, per CNN. But other countries never recognized the change, and the effort even led to a legal fight after the White House restricted AP's access to press events over its continued use of "Gulf of Mexico," a decision a federal judge later ruled unconstitutional.

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Lake Ontario adds another layer, since New York and Ontario each govern their own portion of the lakebed and shoreline, and any American rename would need to go through a process like the U.S. Board on Geographic Names, without any authority over how Canada refers to its side of the water.