Trump pushes Apple to change 'Lake Ontario' to 'Lake America' on its maps

ByNadine Yousif Senior Canada reporter.

Key points

• Ontario Premier Doug Ford unveiled a sizeable sign by the lakeshore on Saturday that read "Lake Ontario Now and Always" in both English and French, Canada's official languages.
• Maps by other Ontario-based agencies additionally appeared to briefly display the name Lake America, including Hydro Ottawa and the Liquor Board of Ontario.
• MapQuest, an American free web mapping service that was introduced in 1996, stated "we're not changing it" in a short Facebook post on Friday.
• "No one's going to call it Lake of America, " Ford informed American TV host George Stephanopoulos on Sunday.
• The renaming has faced pushback in Canada, where one electrical utility firm apologised on Sunday for its map displaying the Lake America name.

President Donald Trump has asked tech firm Apple to rename Lake Ontario as Lake America on its Maps platform so as to comply with his executive order changing the name of the Great Lake, notes Interior Secretary Doug Burgum.

Speaking to Fox News on Monday, Burgum remarked "the president has reached out to Apple directly", adding: "I'm sure we may be seeing that change coming up soon."

Google created the switch for its US-based users over the weekend, though users in Canada still see the lake. It borders the province of Ontario and the state of New York, as Lake Ontario. The BBC has contacted Apple for comment. Canada installs sizeable Lake Ontario sign in latest jab at US. The US-Canada trade war in 5 charts.

Meanwhile, the renaming has faced pushback in Canada, where one electrical utility firm apologised on Sunday for its map displaying the Lake America name.

Hydro One, a utility firm based in Toronto, stated in a post on X that the name appeared due to their employ of a third-party mapping service.

"We are working with our vendor to correct the issue as quickly as possible and restore the proper geographic reference, " the firm stated in its statement. "We regret the error and apologise for any confusion it has caused."

After the collapse of trade negotiations between Canada and the US, trump signed the executive order on Thursday seeking to change the name of Lake Ontario to Lake America.

For context, the order directs Burgum to "take all appropriate actions" to rename the lake, including updating the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS), the official US administration map database.

Google remarked in an official note on Saturday that its maps will display the Lake America name for US users to comply with GNIS.

It continued that those in Canada will continue to see Lake Ontario displayed. In the rest of the world, users will see the name displayed as: Lake Ontario (Lake America).

Not all map providers are changing the name. MapQuest, an American free web mapping service that was introduced in 1996, stated "we're not changing it" in a short Facebook post on Friday.

In practice, the platform additionally unveiled a tool that allows users to change the lake to any name they choose and share their creations.

After its announcement that it will not be changing the name of Lake Ontario, MapQuest rose to the top of the most-downloaded free applications as of Monday morning on the Apple App Store in Canada.

"No one's going to call it Lake of America, " Ford informed American TV host George Stephanopoulos on Sunday. "It's been Lake Ontario for hundreds of years. It's going to continue being Lake Ontario."

Taken together, the developments around trump pushes Apple to change ' Lake Ontario' to ' Lake America' on its point to a situation that is still moving, and the coming days should bring more clarity.