# Under what authority does a US president have the right to rename a body of water shared with another country?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/under-what-authority-does-a-us-president-have-the-right-to-rename-a-body-of-water-shared-with-another-country/1032636>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [August 28, 2026, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/under-what-authority-does-a-us-president-have-the-right-to-rename-a-body-of-water-shared-with-another-country/1032636 "2026-08-28T18:49:57Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
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**Author:** ![orcenio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/orcenio/32/1036_2.png) [@orcenio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/orcenio)\
**Post date:** [August 28, 2026, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/under-what-authority-does-a-us-president-have-the-right-to-rename-a-body-of-water-shared-with-another-country/1032636/5 "2026-08-28T19:02:14Z")

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I am under the impression that Canada and the USA have a bi-national organization formed 117 years ago that deals with shared border waters and waterways.

> [@Carney Deals with Trump (USA trade war against Canada)](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carney-deals-with-trump-usa-trade-war-against-canada/1032478/230):
>
> First I think the Canada/US’s [International Joint Commission](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Joint_Commission) needs to sign off on any name change?
> 
> Second, does Trump want the smoke? We are Canada. We have a MILLION great lakes to burn insulting Trump. We have like five massive lakes on this red line all leading up to the Great Lakes on our southern boarder. I’m just sayin’.
> 
> [https://iili.io/Cmokq6N.png](https://iili.io/Cmokq6N.png)

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