President Donald Trump has reportedly requested Apple to change the name of Lake Ontario to “Lake America” on its maps, as part of ongoing renaming efforts causing controversy in Canada amidst trade tensions. U.S. Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum revealed that Trump personally contacted Apple regarding this renaming request, indicating a potential upcoming change to “Lake America.”
Following Trump’s recent executive order to rename Lake Ontario as “Lake America” amid strained Canada-U.S. trade negotiations and the imposition of U.S. tariffs on Canadian goods, Canada retaliated with its own tariffs set to take effect soon. Despite Prime Minister Mark Carney’s rejection of the name change, affirming that the lake will remain as Lake Ontario, Google announced that Google Maps users in the U.S. would now see “Lake America” based on official government sources.
While Google Maps in Canada continues to display Lake Ontario, some Ontario and Canadian websites inadvertently showed Lake America due to third-party data protocols linked to Google’s U.S. API. However, on Monday, affected websites like Hydro One and LCBO in Ontario reverted to displaying Lake Ontario on their maps.
Regarding Apple Maps, there has been no immediate response from Apple to confirm whether Trump’s request to rename the lake will be implemented. Currently, Apple Maps in Canada still identifies the lake as Lake Ontario. Notably, Trump had previously issued a similar executive order in 2025 renaming the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America, impacting federal documents and geographic services in the U.S., with some online services and news outlets adopting the new name. Apple Maps presently labels the area as “Gulf of Mexico (Gulf of America).”
