Oswego residents react to Trump’s ‘Lake America’ rename
Oswego residents react to ‘Lake America’
Locals in the Lake Ontario port city say a new federal name hasn’t changed what they call the Great Lake, even as tensions with Canada hit closer to home.
Rocco Saya’s camouflaged telephoto lens points at a flock of Canada geese swimming on Lake Ontario, the clicking of his camera shutter mixing with the drone of a small-boat engine and the occasional goose honk.
A lifelong resident of Oswego, Saya stands on the shore of Breitbeck Park, one of his favorite places to photograph wildlife. Forty miles north of Syracuse, the park offers a broad lakefront green space and sweeping views of Oswego Harbor, a lighthouse and the great expanse of Lake Ontario stretching to the horizon.
For Saya and other Oswego residents The NewsHouse spoke to this weekend, it’s still Lake Ontario, despite President Donald Trump’s order renaming it “Lake America” in a diss to Canada, the once-close ally across the water on the lake’s northern shore.
“It’s not a change for me, and it’s not a change for just about everybody that I know,” Saya said of Trump’s executive order Thursday. “Except for people who, for one reason or another, enjoy to troll and hurt other people, probably because they hurt inside.”
The order directs the Interior Department and U.S. Board on Geographic Names to adopt “Lake America” across federal maps, documents and communications. Although it can’t force Canada, New York state, local governments, or residents to use the new name, it has had an immediate impact. Google said Saturday that Maps users in the U.S. would now see Lake America, not Lake Ontario.
Trump’s order itself invokes the city of Oswego to justify the change, citing its historic fort and its status as the first U.S. port of call from the St. Lawrence Seaway as evidence of the lake’s importance to American commerce and defense. Today, industrial and agricultural cargo moves through Oswego’s working Great Lakes port alongside fishing boats and pleasure craft. The Oswego River and Oswego Canal connect the lake to New York’s larger canal system.
The executive order also comes amid an escalating trade war with Canada. New U.S. tariffs of 50% on about $20 billion in Canadian goods took effect after trade talks collapsed last week, and Canada has announced retaliatory tariffs on about $20 billion in U.S. goods beginning Sept. 8, according to Reuters.
In an X post Thursday, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said that for Canadians, the lake remains Lake Ontario “then, now and always.”
The reaction The NewsHouse found on the American side mostly echoed Carney’s sentiment.
Oswego Mayor Robert Corradino said in a Facebook post that the city has no plans to replace its Lake Ontario signage or maps. He said the city’s residents, economy and history are tied to the lake and that Oswego will remain focused on supporting its waterfront and small businesses.
Saya’s camera briefly stops clicking as he explains he isn’t new to criticizing Trump. He said he often spends his Saturday mornings at weekly community protests in Washington Square in downtown Oswego.
Saya did not attend this week, but others took up the cause, with protesters carrying signs that read, “We Stand With Canada and Lake Ontario.”
Janine Little, an Oswego resident of more than 40 years, held a sign that said, “Lake Ontario = Beautiful Lake.” She recalled walking along the lakeshore with her husband and later returning to watch former daycare children pose for prom photos.
“It isn’t America’s lake. It never has been. It’s not Canada’s lake. It was here long before any of us, and it should stay that way,” she said. “I think we should respect that.”
The name “Ontario” predates both the United States and Canada, with scholars and Indigenous sources variously tracing it to Wendat or Mohawk forms. The Wendat word “Ontari’io” has been translated as “the lake is beautiful” and “the lake is big.”
SUNY Oswego student Anthony Segovia said he thought the name change was “crazy.” But he said he believed views among his peers split along political lines.
“I’d say people are like 50-50 about it,” he said. “I feel like people who side with Trump more probably are going to agree with what he does more.”
Oswego resident Bob Day also said he expects the old name to endure.
“(It’s) just a political stunt, I think, just to tick off the people from Canada,” he said. “So it’ll stay Lake Ontario.”
Saya said the federal government’s focus should be on other matters.
“If we look at all the problems we’re facing: affordability crisis, the Iran War, the loss of our democratic norms, among a lot of other problems, why are we even talking about this?” he said. “What we need to do, I think, is focus on what’s really going on.”
Trump’s executive order Thursday follows the earlier Executive Order 14172, signed the day of his second-term inauguration, directing U.S. agencies to change the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America, and Denali (the Indigenous word for America’s highest peak) to Mount McKinley. An Ipsos poll conducted in the days after the 2025 order found 70% of Americans opposed the Gulf name change.
In Oswego, Trump’s conflict with Canada has consequences that go beyond what appears on a map. Maritime activity at the Port of Oswego supports more than 2,200 jobs and generates about $513 million in regional economic activity, according to a Port Authority economic-impact study. The port handles grain and other cargo and has long imported raw aluminum from Canada, much of it destined for Novelis’ Oswego plant and other manufacturing operations.
WAER reported in August 2025 that Canadian aluminum shipments through the Port of Oswego had all but stopped after the U.S. first raised aluminum tariffs to 50%, with port revenue falling by about a third.
Some residents say they see the strain elsewhere in the local economy, too.
Patty Familo, 68, a local Democratic Party committee member, said Trump’s actions have hurt local businesses.
“People are not coming across from Canada. You could talk to any of the local business people,” Familio said. “They’re not coming and this … is going to further erode that relationship.”
A Canadian government travel survey found that trips by Canadian residents to the U.S. in the first quarter of 2026 fell 10.6% compared with the same period in 2025, while spending during those visits fell 13.6%.
Back at Breitbeck Park, Day rides a tricycle along the waterfront and stops to photograph the boats and lighthouse. He has been photographing sunsets there for about 20 years.
“This is the beautiful lake. We have some of the best sunsets in the world here. Every night is different,” Day said. “And that lake, Lake Ontario, is always going to stay the same.”
is a contributor to The NewsHouse.
is a contributor to The NewsHouse.
is a contributor to The NewsHouse.
is a contributor to The NewsHouse.