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'All we need is an ocean': Trump says he might rename the Pacific or Atlantic

US president suggests he is not done with renaming water bodies

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President Donald Trump speaks in the Oval Office of the White House, Thursday, Aug. 27, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
Donald Trump speaks in the Oval Office of the White House. Picture: Alamy

By William Mata

Donald Trump has suggested he might continue renaming bodies of water by calling the Pacific and/or the Atlantic oceans by an American title.

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The US President has signed an executive order for Lake Ontario, which borders Canada, to be named Lake America.

This latest rewriting of the map comes after Mr Trump signed off on the Gulf of Mexico becoming the Gulf of America.

But Mr Trump, who loves to put his own name on business ventures, has suggested he is not done with renaming bodies of water.

The president said: “We have a gulf, and we have a lake – now all we need is an ocean.

"Maybe we’ll have to change the name of the Atlantic and/or the Pacific. Maybe we’ll change them both.”

Read more: Trump orders flags lowered for a week in honour of Dolly Parton after country icon dies aged 80

Map on iPhone of Gulf of Mexico, Mexico, the United States and Caribbean islands
The Gulf of Mexico has already been renamed by Trump. Picture: Alamy

The Lake America stunt is considered a jibe at Canada as the two countries go through a trade dispute.

In his statement on TikTok, Mr Trump said: “We’re gonna make a little change; we’re gonna call it something different than Lake Ontario.

“We’re gonna call it Lake America. And all it takes is a good pen and some intelligence.”

Canadian prime minister Mark Carney hit back by stating that the Ontario name is here to stay.

He tweeted: "The name Lake Ontario comes from the Wendat word Ontari’io, which, appropriately, means “the lake is beautiful, the lake is big”.

"The name is more than 400 years old, predating both the Confederation of Canada and the Declaration of Independence of the United States of America.

"We know that America is changing. Their trading relationships, their foreign policies, their national monuments, their hydronyms.

"Canadians also know that naming reality means calling it Lake Ontario – then, now and always."