<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Representative Jimmy Patronis (R-FL) announced on August 27, 2026, that he will introduce legislation to change the name of Lake Ontario to Lake America, following an executive order signed by President Donald Trump.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Patronis’s proposed bill, shared on social media, would mandate that any reference to the Great Lake in U.S. law, regulation, document, paper, or record refer to Lake Ontario as Lake America.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">In his post, Patronis stated, “The renaming of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America was met with an awesome response in Northwest, FL – (the shirts are awesome!). Let it rip, Mr. President!”</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Trump's executive order comes amid a deterioration in U.S.-Canada relations, as Canada announced retaliatory tariffs following a breakdown in trade talks and Trump's imposition of 50% duties on Canada over the weekend.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Trump remarked on August 27, 2026, from the White House, “Canada has been ripping us off for a long time on trade. Very sadly, even the military. You know, we defend Canada for nothing. We don’t get anything. They don’t pay us to defend Canada, but we defend Canada, and they understand that.”</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Earlier in the week, Trump suggested changing the name of Lake Ontario in a Truth Social post, stating he was “giving serious consideration to changing the name of Lake Ontario to Lake America in that we don’t expect to be doing much business with Ontario any longer.”</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">This executive order marks the second instance of Trump unilaterally moving to change the name of an international body of water, having previously signed an order to rename the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Trump also commented, “If you think about it, we have a gulf and we have a lake. Now, all we need is an ocean. So, maybe we’ll have to change the name of the Atlantic, and/or the Pacific. Maybe we’ll change them both.”</p>