Hochul: New York won’t follow Trump’s ‘Lake America’ renaming

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) said Thursday the Empire State would not be referring to Lake Ontario as “Lake America” after President Trump issued an executive order renaming the lake.

Trump’s Thursday decision to formally change the name of Lake Ontario to Lake America amid the ongoing trade war between Canada and the United States has been criticized by state and local leaders across the country, including Hochul, Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers (D) and Vermont Gov. Phil Scott (R).

“New York won’t be calling it that,” Hochul wrote on social platform X .

According to the Center for Great Lakes Literacy , Lake Ontario’s name means “lake of shining waters” and includes around 5.6 million Americans and Canadians in its watershed. The lake borders Canada’s Ontario province and New York — connecting the Great Lakes to the Atlantic Ocean through the St. Lawrence Seaway.

Hochul has been critical of the trade war and bashed Trump for “treating our allies as enemies,” saying that “American families continue to suffer because of it.”

New York is one of many states expected to be hit hard in the trade war as U.S. goods and services trade with Canada totaled an estimated $872.3 billion in 2025, according to the office of U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said Ottawa would enact retaliatory tariffs in response to the U.S.’s new 50 percent tariffs starting Sept. 8. He added that Canada would “match Washington’s new tariffs dollar for dollar in order to protect Canadian workers, farmers, families and businesses.”

Other politicians from states bordering other Great Lakes also commented on Trump’s recent renaming effort.

“And I just renamed Lake Michigan Lake Wisconsin. See, I can sign napkins that say things, too,” Evers wrote on social media Thursday.

The caption appeared alongside a video of Evers writing on a McDonald’s paper napkin, “Lake Wisconsin” with his signature below it.