President Donald Trump’s push to rename Lake Ontario as ‘Lake America’ could cost taxpayers millions
President Donald Trump‘s push to rename Lake Ontario as “Lake America” could cost federal, state and local governments millions of dollars, according to public policy experts, budget analysts and municipal officials who spoke with Newsweek.
The executive order
Trump signed an executive order directing Interior Secretary Doug Burgum to “take all appropriate actions” to ensure that “all federal government references to Lake Ontario, including on executive department and agency maps, contracts and other documents and communications, shall reflect its renaming.”
The order came after trade talks between Washington and Ottawa collapsed. The United States imposed 50 percent tariffs on roughly $20 billion worth of Canadian goods the following day, while Canada announced “dollar-for-dollar” retaliatory tariffs set to take effect September 8, according to CGTN.
Standing beside a map titled “Making the Great Lakes Even Greater” in the Oval Office, Trump told reporters that renaming the lake was “something I’ve been thinking about for a long time,” according to CNN. He added that the U.S. now has “a gulf and we have a lake,” suggesting other bodies of water could eventually be renamed.
Trump also criticized Canada, saying Canadian officials “have treated us very badly” and calling them “nasty people,” according to ABC News.
Burgum responded on X, writing that “the places and waters that border our nation and support our economy should reflect the greatness of the United States.”
The Geographic Names Information System has already been updated to reflect “Lake America,” while its mapping software is being updated. Google and Apple have also adopted the name on their platforms, although not every mapping provider has followed suit.
Under the order, Burgum and the U.S. Board on Geographic Names have 30 days to finalize the change and remove “all references to Lake Ontario,” according to Al Jazeera.
Experts warn of hidden costs
Beyond software updates and physical signage, experts told Newsweek the rename could create expenses for public agencies and private companies required to update maps, documents and other materials.
Linda Bilmes, a senior lecturer in public policy at Harvard Kennedy School and former chief financial officer for the Department of Commerce, said renaming efforts are “not as straightforward as one might imagine.”
Bilmes, who encountered similar issues while serving on the National Park Service Advisory Board, said the process creates “numerous administrative costs,” including printed maps, brochures and the “physical labor hours involved in changing all the road signage, park signage, plaques, trail maps, trail markers, etc.”
Robert Corradino, the Republican mayor of Oswego, New York, told Newsweek that “even a conservative estimate suggests that updating signage, maps, tourism materials and other public references would cost several thousand dollars.”
For a city of roughly 17,000 residents, Corradino said the expense “represents a significant and unnecessary financial burden at a time when we are focused on maintaining essential services and keeping taxes stable.”
Corradino has opposed the executive order, saying Oswego has no reason to change the lake’s name.
Philip G. Joyce, a professor of public policy at the University of Maryland and former Congressional Budget Office analyst, said calculating the total cost “would be difficult or impossible.” However, he warned the change could create “a ripple effect” as organizations are forced to adapt.
The Gulf of America
Federal budget analysts have already estimated the cost of a comparable geographic rename.
When the Congressional Budget Office analyzed legislation to codify Trump’s January 20, 2025, executive order renaming the Gulf of Mexico as the “Gulf of America,” it estimated that updating federal documents and maps would cost up to $500,000 over five years.
During House Rules Committee debates in May, Democrats also warned of additional costs for schools and municipalities that would need to update their own materials.
The administration’s proposed renaming of the Department of Defense as the “Department of War” carried a potentially larger price tag. The CBO estimated that a “modest implementation” could cost $10 million, while a broad and rapid rollout could cost as much as $125 million.
If Congress made the change statutory, the CBO said the cost “could cost hundreds of millions of dollars,” depending on implementation.
State and cross-border complications
New York, the only U.S. state bordering Lake Ontario, has no plans to implement the name change, according to earlier Newsweek reporting.
Michael C. Dorf, a professor of law at Cornell University, wrote that the state could nonetheless face costs from “expensive steps in coordinating state and federal programs, training personnel and alerting the public to the fact that ‘Lake America’ and ‘Lake Ontario’ refer to the same body of water.”
Mike Shriberg, director of the University of Michigan’s Water Center, wrote in an analysis for the environmental outlet Circle of Blue that the rename could disrupt decades of environmental data and scientific collaboration, potentially costing agencies and researchers millions of dollars.
Trump’s authority extends only to how the U.S. government refers to the lake. He cannot compel Canada, Canadian citizens or international organizations to adopt the new name, according to ABC News and CNN.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney rejected the rename, writing on X that the name Lake Ontario derives from the Wendat word “Ontari’io,” meaning “the lake is beautiful, the lake is big.” He noted that the name predates both Canadian Confederation and the U.S. Declaration of Independence, according to The Hill.
“Canadians also know that naming reality means calling it Lake Ontario — then, now and always,” Carney wrote, as reported by CGTN.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford echoed Carney’s stance, posting that “it’s Lake Ontario to Canadians and the rest of the world. Now and forever,” according to CNN.
Tim Naftali, a senior research scholar at Columbia University, told CNN that Canada could theoretically respond by renaming Lake Superior “Lake Obama,” a move he suggested would not sit well with the White House.
Political reaction in Washington
The rename has drawn bipartisan skepticism from U.S. lawmakers.
Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona questioned the move amid ongoing affordability concerns, asking, “How does changing the name of a lake help the American people? They can’t afford their lives right now,” according to Time.
Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, whose state borders Lake Superior, called the idea “superiorly stupid,” in comments cited by Time.
Pierre Poilievre, Canada’s main opposition leader, also criticized the directive, according to the same report.
Public opinion
A Reuters/Ipsos poll found that just 14 percent of Americans support renaming Lake Ontario to “Lake America,” while 63 percent oppose the executive order. Opposition included a plurality of Republicans, at 43 percent.
Joyce told Newsweek that a rename that fails to lower costs, improve government performance or deliver a “substantive benefit” to citizens would “represent the very definition of waste.”
Part of a broader pattern
The Lake Ontario rename is part of a broader pattern of geographic and institutional name changes pursued by the Trump administration since his second inauguration on January 20, 2025.
The administration has described the effort as an attempt to “honor American greatness.” It has included renaming the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America and redesignating the Department of Defense as the Department of War.
Trump has floated other proposals, including replacing references to the Strait of Hormuz with “Trump Strait.”
In a Truth Social post, Trump wrote that “many people suggested changing the name of New Mexico, one of the great vote cheating states of all time, to NEW AMERICA,” calling it “so much more prestigious and beautiful for the people of that potentially incredible State.”