In brief
President Donald Trump has issued an executive order to change the name of Lake Ontario to Lake America, compelling tech giants to update their map displays for U.S. consumers. While Google has already rolled out the change, Canada and other countries continue to see the traditional name. The renaming has caused diplomatic friction, prompting Canadian utilities to correct mistaken map labels and prompting provincial leaders to publicly defend the lake’s original name. The move reflects broader tensions in U.S.-Canada trade relations and raises questions about the authority of corporate map services in shaping geographic identity.
US President Donald Trump has asked tech firm Apple to rename Lake Ontario as Lake America on its Maps platform to comply with his executive order changing the name of the Great Lake.
Burgum told Fox News on Monday that the president had reached out to Apple directly, adding that the renaming would likely appear soon.
Google updated the name for US users over the weekend, though Canadian users still see the lake as Lake Ontario because it borders the province of Ontario and the state of New York. In the rest of the world, the name is displayed as “Lake Ontario (Lake America)”.
The move has drawn pushback in Canada: Hydro One apologized for a map error that displayed the new name, and other Ontario agencies briefly showed the renamed lake. Canadian Premier Doug Ford installed a large sign at the lakeshore reading “Lake Ontario Now and Always” in both English and French.
MapQuest, an American free web mapping service, declined to change the name but released a tool allowing users to rename the lake, leading to a surge in downloads on the Apple App Store in Canada. The executive order directs Interior Secretary Doug Burgum to update the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) and take all appropriate actions to rename the lake in official U.S. government maps. The renaming reflects ongoing U.S.-Canada trade tensions and highlights the influence of corporate mapping platforms on geographic naming conventions.
