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The Congressional Budget Office in the U.S. previously published a report estimating how much renaming the Gulf of Mexico would cost Published Sep 08, 2026 Last updated 8 hours ago 3 minute read Article content Renaming Lake Ontario to "Lake America" will come at a cost to federal agencies in the U.S. that are responsible for updating maps and databases, and a previous report by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) offers insight into how expensive this could be. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS Enjoy the latest local, national and international news. SUBSCRIBE FOR MORE ARTICLES Enjoy the latest local, national and international news. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. or Article content U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order changing the name of the lake on Aug. 27, which directed the Department of the Interior to update maps and databases to reflect the new name. Article content Article content
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Article content It's not the first time Trump has sought to rename a major body of water. In January 2025, he signed an executive order changing the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the "Gulf of America." Article content By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Article content Following this, in April 2025, CBO published a report estimating that the Gulf of Mexico name change could cost up to US$500,000 between 2025 and 2030. Article content In an email to National Post, a spokesperson for CBO said: "CBO hasn't published an estimate for H.R. 10196, the Lake America Act. The closest precedent is the estimate for H.R. 276, the Gulf of America Act. While that estimate can't automatically be applied to Lake Ontario, it can provide a sense of how CBO has previously treated similar legislation." Article content The 2025 report said the estimate was based on the cost of similar activities that involved updating documents and maps. It added that the Gulf of America Act "could affect direct spending by some agencies that are allowed to use fees, receipts from the sale of goods, and other collections to cover operating costs." Article content Article content However, CBO estimated that any changes in spending by those agencies would be negligible because "most of them can adjust amounts collected to reflect changes in operating costs." Article content
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Article content If the cost of renaming Lake Ontario does come in at a similar figure to the estimate for the Gulf of Mexico, it would mean U.S. federal agencies may have spent as much as US$1 million on renaming the two bodies of water. Article content Article content Elsewhere, the CBO issued another report earlier this year estimating the cost of introducing "Department of War" as a secondary title for the U.S. Department of Defense, after Trump signed an executive order authorizing the use of the new name in September 2025. Article content It said a "modest implementation" of the name could cost US$10 million, or as much as US$125 million if the name change was implemented "broadly and rapidly." A statutory renaming, the CBO said, could cost hundreds of millions of dollars. Article content Meanwhile, over the weekend, Trump suggested renaming New Mexico to "New America" in a post on Truth Social, accompanied by an AI-crafted video of him changing a roadside billboard and dancing. Article content Another post that showed a map of New Mexico with "Mexico" crossed out and replaced by "America" was reminiscent of posts he made before renaming Lake Ontario. Article content New media post from Donald J. Trump ( TS: Sep 7 2026, 10:42 AM ET ) pic.twitter.com/yNtvVjqSYt Advertisement 2 This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Article content Trump's executive order renaming Lake Ontario came after a breakdown in trade negotiations between Canada and the U.S. last month, which saw Prime Minister Mark Carney announce dollar-for-dollar counter tariffs that come into effect on Tuesday. Article content Politicians on both sides of the border have condemned the name change, with Ontario Premier Doug Ford erecting a new Lake Ontario sign at a cost of $25,000 in Winona, Ont., shortly after Trump signed the executive order. Article content Unveiling the sign in a video posted on X, Ford said: "Long before President Trump, this lake was called Lake Ontario. And long after President Trump is gone, it will still be called Lake Ontario. But just in case President Trump or anyone else forgets, we have set up a sign to remind them, it's Lake Ontario now and forever." Article content Article content
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Article content In the U.S., politicians including former U.S. secretary of state Hillary Clinton and Vermont senator Bernie Sanders have criticized Trump's actions on social media. Article content And Robert Corradino, a Republican and mayor of Oswego, a city in New York State on the shore of Lake Ontario, previously told National Post that his community is taking the renaming of Lake Ontario "very personally." Article content "Lake Ontario is in the DNA of Osweganians," he said, adding, "Everything that we are emanates from the lake." Article content Elsewhere, polling has revealed that most Americans are against the name change, with Economist/YouGov research finding 68 per cent of Americans strongly or somewhat disapproved of the move. A separate poll conducted by Ipsos published a similar result, with 63 per cent opposing Trump's executive order. Article content Our website is the place for the latest breaking news, exclusive scoops, longreads and provocative commentary. Please bookmark nationalpost.com and sign up for our newsletters here. Article content
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