Seneca Nation Calls on Trump to Reverse ‘Lake America’ Name Change: ‘Lake Ontario Is Not a Political Pawn’

The Seneca Nation condemned President Trump’s renaming of Lake Ontario to ‘Lake America’ through an executive order in August 2026. Seneca Nation President J. Conrad Seneca condemned the move as ‘starkly un-presidential’ and the ‘exact opposite of diplomacy,’ and cited the Treaty of Canandaigua.

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President Trump renamed Lake Ontario to “Lake America” through an executive order, effective Aug. 27

Seneca Nation President J. Conrad Seneca condemned the move as “intrusive,” “starkly un-presidential” and the “exact opposite of diplomacy”

The Seneca Nation leader also cited the Treaty of Canandaigua, emphasizing the U.S.’ historic commitment to honoring Indigenous sovereignty

One day after President Donald Trump‘s “Lake America” name change of Lake Ontario went into effect, the president of Seneca Nation spoke out against it.

In the latest move in his ongoing feud with Canada — and a symbolic assertion of U.S. influence over one of North America’s most prominent shared waterways — Trump, 80, renamed the Great Lake through an executive order.

The name change became official on Thursday, Aug. 27. On the following day, Seneca Nation President J. Conrad Seneca condemned “the intrusive action” as the “exact opposite of diplomacy” in a statement shared by the Seneca Nation of Indians (SNI).

“The President cannot assert ownership over our culture or erase it through irresponsible political action,” the Seneca Nation leader said. “His order should be rescinded, and the name Lake Ontario should be left as it is, reflective of the Seneca people, other Haudenosaunee nations and all Indigenous people surrounding the lake.”

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“To us, Lake Ontario is not a political pawn,” the leader of the federally recognized tribe continued. “It does not separate the countries of the United States and Canada. It is all Indigenous land, which has been occupied by Indigenous people since time immemorial.”

The Seneca Nation president also cited the “Indigenous roots” behind the name Lake Ontario, which means “sga:nyodai:yoh” or “beautiful lake” in the Seneca language. He also cited the Treaty of Canandaigua, a centuries-old treaty that established peace between and the separate sovereignty of the U.S. and the six Haudenosaunee nations, which includes the Seneca Nation.

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“Long before the United States existed, and before settlers brought the English language to our lands, our Seneca and Haudenosaunee ancestors traveled Lake Ontario and surrounding waterways for many reasons, including diplomacy among our nations. Now, we are seeing the exact opposite of diplomacy,” the Seneca Nation leader said.

Trump’s renaming of the Great Lake to “Lake America,” he continued, is “starkly un-presidential and demeaning to his office and his standing as the leader of the free world. His blatant disrespect toward the Seneca people, other Haudenosaunee nations, and all Indigenous people is unacceptable.”

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George Washington and the nations signed the Treaty of Canandaigua in 1794, “promising to live in peace and friendship with one another,” the leader wrote. “The United States also promised our people the free use and enjoyment of our lands forever.”

“President Trump’s aggression toward our culture with his Executive Order violates that peace, friendship and commitments of the Canandaigua treaty,” the leader said, calling the renaming “the latest in a long history of willful attempts to disregard the United States’ commitments to the Seneca and other Haudenosaunee nations.”

“President Trump needs to be reminded of those commitments,” he wrote. Plus, under the U.S. Constitution, “treaties are the ‘supreme Law of the Land,’ and need to always be honored as such,” the leader added.

“We will always call Lake Ontario by the name derived from the language of our ancestors – the name that, like the strength and influence of the Seneca people, will live on forever, long after the intrusive political tirades of individual men,” the Seneca Nation president said.

He concluded the statement by asking “all Native Nations need to stand united to vocally and forcefully reject this change” and all politicians, “regardless of political party,” to stand with Seneca Nation by opposing the executive order.

“As the President said, the majority of the great lake’s volume sits in United States territory. Thanks to President Trump’s bold action, its name will now reflect its place in America and her heritage,” White House spokeswoman Allison Schuster told PEOPLE in response to the Seneca Nation president’s statement.

Trump first announced the idea of a Lake America on Tuesday, Aug. 25, on Truth Social, saying the U.S. was giving “serious consideration” to changing the body of water’s name because he does not expect to be “doing much business with Ontario any longer.”

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The proposal came as the Trump administration and Canadian officials traded increasingly sharp rhetoric following the collapse of recent trade negotiations.

He later announced the “little change” was going to happen in a TikTok on Wednesday, Aug. 26. “We’re gonna call it Lake America. And all it takes is a good pen and some intelligence,” he said in the video before taking a Sharpie and crossing out the lake’s name, writing “LAKE AMERICA” above it.

The name change became official the following day.

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