‘We are governed by children’: Trump follows through with Lake Ontario name change

After floating the idea on Truth Social on Tuesday, when the US president said America is “giving serious consideration” to the name change, Donald Trump went ahead and changed Lake Ontario to Lake America via an executive order signed on Thursday.

Earlier this week, the 80-year-old said the then proposed change was because “we don’t expect to be doing much business with Ontario any longer”, amid a bitter trade war between America and Canada which saw the latter introduce retaliatory tariffs on US steel and aluminium.

The US-Canada border runs through the middle of the lake, with New York to the south of it and Ontario to the north of it.

The executive order, titled ‘Honoring the American history of the Great Lakes and renaming Lake Ontario as Lake America’, reads: “Without the security and investment provided by the United States, this freshwater system would not be open for shipping, recreation, and responsible use to the same extent as it is today.

“The United States Coast Guard supplies 9 of the 11 ice breaking vessels on the Great Lakes, securing commercial shipping lanes free of charge. The United States has invested nearly $4 billion in protecting the Great Lakes freshwater ecosystem in the last decade, while Canada has invested far less in similar initiatives over the same period.

“The Lake will continue to play a pivotal role in shaping America’s future and the global economy. In recognition of this flourishing economic resource and its critical importance to our Nation’s economy and its people, I am directing that the Lake officially be renamed as Lake America.”

And after the White House shared a map with Lake Ontario labelled as ‘Lake America’ on X/Twitter on Thursday, other social media users mocked and criticised the Trump administration’s priorities:

“We are governed by children,” wrote journalist Mehdi Hasan:

California congressman Ted Lieu said: “This is why we can’t have nice things”:

“There’s glass in our bread,” tweeted writer Peter Rothpletz, referencing a recall by General Mills last month over fears their bread rolls may be contaminated:

New York governor Kathy Hochul responded by saying the state “won’t be calling it that”:

One user referenced a meme from the TV show Pawn Stars by posting an AI-generated image of Trump and vice president JD Vance with the caption: “Best I can do is change the names of s***”:

Illinois governor JB Pritzker clapped back by joking that the Trump International Hotel and Tower in Chicago is “renamed to NATALIE TOWER” – Natalie being a reference to his close aide Natalie Harp:

Even right-wing political commentator Matt Walsh disapproved of the move, tweeting that it was “kind of dull”:

And it’s not the first time that Trump has renamed a body of water to make it sound more American, as last year he signed an executive order to call the Gulf of Mexico the ‘Gulf of America’.

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