From “Lake America” to “Trump Strait”: Trump’s Renaming Spree Draws Pushback From Canada to New Mexico to Iceland

Between late August and mid-September 2026, the president renamed Lake Ontario “Lake America” for federal use by executive order. He also floated new names for a U.S. state and a Middle East shipping lane, and posted a map covering much of North America in the American flag. However, only one of those moves carries any legal weight.

President Donald Trump’s habit of stamping “America” on the map sped up sharply in late August and September 2026. As a result, foreign governments, state officials and Native American leaders protested. Satirists joined in too, including David Horsey, whose cartoon syndicated by Tribune Content Agency for Sept. 13, 2026, imagines a redrawn continent covered in Trump-branded names.

Here is what actually happened, and what the president can and cannot do.

Lake Ontario becomes “Lake America,” for Washington only

On Aug. 27, 2026, Trump signed Executive Order 14422, renaming Lake Ontario “Lake America,” and said the change took effect immediately. Days earlier, U.S.-Canada trade talks had collapsed. Washington then imposed 50% tariffs on roughly $20 billion of Canadian goods, and Ottawa quickly retaliated.

The order gives Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and the U.S. Board on Geographic Names 30 days to make the change in the federal Geographic Names Information System. It also requires federal maps and documents to use the new name. The U.S. Geological Survey said the same day that it had already updated its electronic records. To justify the change, the order argues that most of the lake’s volume and its deepest waters lie on the U.S. side. In addition, it credits U.S. spending and Coast Guard icebreakers with keeping the lake open to shipping.

Canada, tribal leaders and Congress push back on Lake America

Canada rejected the change. Prime Minister Mark Carney noted that the name comes from a Wendat word and is more than 400 years old, older than both countries. He said Canadians would keep using it. Meanwhile, Ontario Premier Doug Ford unveiled a giant roadside sign near Grimsby with the lake’s name in English and French. Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston put it more bluntly: “It’s Lake Ontario, buddy.”

Objections have also come from inside the United States. Seneca Nation President J. Conrad Seneca asked Trump to rescind the order. He argued that it violates the 1794 Treaty of Canandaigua, which names the lake, and that no one consulted Native nations. In Congress, Democratic Reps. Tim Kennedy and Joe Morelle of New York and Debbie Dingell of Michigan introduced the Hands Off Our Great Lakes Act. The bill would cancel the order and bar the renaming of any Great Lake. Even Rep. Claudia Tenney, a New York Republican from the lakeshore, suggested the order was mostly a jab at Canada.

Google and Apple adopt Lake America, but the AP does not

Tech companies followed the federal database, as they did with the Gulf of Mexico. Google Maps began showing “Lake America” to U.S. users within days, and Apple Maps followed on Sept. 2, 2026. Users in Canada continued to see “Lake Ontario” instead of Lake America. However, the Associated Press, whose style guide many American newsrooms follow, said it would keep calling the lake Lake Ontario in September 2026. The AP noted that the order only governs how the U.S. government refers to it.

“Trump Strait”: floated, downplayed, then repeated

On Sept. 2, 2026, amid renewed U.S. and Iranian strikes, Trump asked on Truth Social whether to rename the Strait of Hormuz “Trump Strait.” He claimed the waterway was now under U.S. control. That same day, when reporters asked if he was serious, he said he had no plans to rename it. He described it as an idea he had simply thrown out. Still, he returned to the idea at the Republican Party’s midterm convention in Dallas on Sept. 9–10, 2026. There, he said the U.S. would call it “Trump Strait” after the war with Iran. He also again raised renaming the Atlantic or Pacific Ocean. He had mused about that idea when signing the Lake Ontario order, too.

The strait lies between Iran and Oman. No U.S. executive order can change what other countries call it.

New Mexico as “New America,” starting from a hoax

On Sept. 1, 2026, a satirical social media account falsely claimed that officials planned to rename New Mexico “New America.” Fact-checkers at Snopes debunked it. Then, on Sunday, Sept. 6, 2026, Trump posted a map of New Mexico with “Mexico” crossed out and “America” written in. He also shared an AI-generated video of himself covering a “Welcome to New Mexico” sign. He wrote that many people had suggested the change. The White House reposted the image.

Unlike a lake or a mountain, however, a state is not something the president can rename. New Mexico’s constitution spells out the state’s name. Changing it would require a vote by the state Legislature and then approval from voters.

The reaction crossed party lines in the state. Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said the name was not open for debate. She also accused the president of trying to distract from the Iran war and rising prices. Both candidates to succeed her, Democrat Deb Haaland and Republican Gregg Hull, rejected the idea. Sens. Martin Heinrich and Ben Ray Luján and Rep. Melanie Stansbury also objected. Utah Republican Sen. Mike Lee, by contrast, called the name catchy.

On Sept. 10, 2026, all five members of New Mexico’s all-Democratic congressional delegation wrote to Apple and Google. They asked both companies to publicly commit to keeping the state’s name on their maps. At the time, both still showed New Mexico.

A map that set off a diplomatic row

On Monday, Sept. 7, 2026, Trump posted an image of a map without any caption or explanation. The image draped the U.S. flag over Canada, Mexico, Greenland, Iceland, Cuba, much of Central America and parts of the Caribbean. It labeled the whole area “United States of America.”

In response, Iceland’s foreign minister, Þorgerður Katrín Gunnarsdóttir, summoned U.S. Ambassador Billy Long the next day. She told him the post was completely inappropriate and stressed that Iceland is a sovereign country.

What a president can and can’t rename

The limits are fairly clear:

• Federal use: A president can direct federal agencies to use a new name for a geographic feature. For example, on his first day back in office in January 2025, Trump renamed the Gulf of Mexico the “Gulf of America”. He also restored the name Mount McKinley for Alaska’s Denali. The Lake America order follows the same process.
• Other countries: Other countries, international bodies and foreign mapmakers don’t have to go along. For instance, Mexico kept using “Gulf of Mexico” and sued Google over its label. Likewise, Canada said it would keep calling the lake Lake Ontario.
• States: A president cannot rename a state. That takes a change to the state’s own constitution.
• Federal departments: A president cannot formally rename one either. A September 2025 executive order let the Defense Department also call itself the “Department of War.” However, only Congress can change its legal name.
• Private companies: Google and Apple are not legally bound. Google says it follows official government naming sources, which in the U.S. means the federal names database. Apple made the same change for U.S. users.

The renaming push has also had consequences for the press. In 2025, the Associated Press refused to adopt “Gulf of America.” In response, the White House barred its reporters from the Oval Office, Air Force One and other limited-access events. A federal judge ruled in April 2025 that the ban violated the First Amendment. However, an appeals court let most of the restrictions stay in place. As of September 2026, the case was still pending on appeal.

Pop culture joins in

The satire has spread beyond editorial cartoons. On Sept. 8, 2026, the creators of South Park announced they were renaming the show “South America” for its 29th season. The joke mocked both the White House and the tech companies that put Lake America on their maps. It was not immediately clear how long the joke would last. Comedy Central planned to premiere the season on Sept. 16, 2026.

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Sources: The White House; CNN; Associated Press; The Washington Post; Reuters; NBC News; The Hill; TIME; Newsweek; Albuquerque Journal; CNN; Daily Press / Tribune Content Agency (David Horsey cartoon).