Apple Maps renames Lake Ontario as Lake America after Trump order
6 hours ago
Apple Maps
Apple has renamed Lake Ontario as Lake America on its Maps app, after an order from US President Donald Trump as part of Washington’s trade spat with Canada
The change was made for US-based users, while those in Canada will continue to see Lake Ontario displayed. The BBC has contacted Apple for comment
The iPhone maker’s move follows Trump’s executive order to change the lake’s name after trade talks between the neighbouring countries collapsed late last month, with Washington imposing new 50% tariffs on $20bn (£14.8bn; C$28bn) worth of Canadian goods
Rival technology giant Google made a similar switch for its users in the US in recent days, leading to backlash on social media
Canada has responded to Washington’s levies, saying it will implement “dollar for dollar” counter-tariffs
Prime Minister Mark Carney’s administration had walked away from the trade negotiations, due to what his office has called unacceptable demands
Carney told the Trump administration to “start being serious” and stop trying to be tough before discussions between the sides can restart
Trump’s executive order gives the US Department of the Interior 30 days to update the change with the Geographic Names Information Service – the official database of what places are called in the country
Apple was specifically urged by Trump to rename Lake Ontario on its Maps platform to comply with the executive order signed
The president has also posted several AI-generated videos on social media, including a clip of him kicking over a Lake Ontario sign and replacing it with another that says “Welcome to Lake America”
At the lake itself, Canada has installed a new sign with the words “Lake Ontario. Now and Always”
“Just in case President Trump or anyone else forgets, we’ve set up this sign to remind them, it’s Lake Ontario, now and forever,” Ontario Premier Doug Ford said
The names of four of the five Great Lakes – Ontario, Huron, Michigan and Erie – come from indigenous words
Lake Superior was named after an anglicised French word
Lake Ontario, the smallest of the Great Lakes, sits between the Canadian province and the US state of New York
Not all map providers have adopted the new name
MapQuest, a free web mapping service, said “we’re not changing it” in a short Facebook post on Friday
The platform rose to the top of the most-downloaded free applications earlier this week on the Canadian Apple App Store
Last week, Google said in a blog post that it had changed the name on its Maps service for US-based users
The Maps app is updated to “reflect name changes in official government those in Canada will see Lake Ontario, Google said
The company made a similar decision in 2025 to re-designate the Gulf of Mexico after Trump declared it would be called the Gulf of America
Google was sued by Mexico over allegedly ignoring the country’s requests not to rename the Gulf for US users
Apple also changed the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America on its maps service for US users
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Google Maps updates Gulf of Mexico name for US users
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