Apple changed the name of Lake Ontario to “Lake America” in Apple Maps following U.S. President Donald Trump’s executive order renaming the lake.
The tech giant made the switch Tuesday following Alphabet’s change on Google Maps over the weekend.
Trump reached out to Apple directly and asked the company to make the change, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said Monday.
President Donald Trump signed an executive order Thursday to rename Lake Ontario “Lake America,” days after threatening the change as a trade dispute between the U.S. and Canada escalated.
Users in the U.S. will see “Lake America” on Apple Maps, while Canadian users will still see Lake Ontario. Users in the rest of the world will see both names.
The executive order applies to U.S. federal usage of the lake and does not govern what Canada, international bodies or other organizations call the lake.
Apple cited the U.S. Geographic Names Information System, the federal standard for geographic nomenclature, which officially made the change to “Lake America.” The company used the same approach when Trump renamed the Gulf of Mexico as the “Gulf of America” in January.
The name change was the latest development in his administration’s trade war with Canada. The U.S. threatened 50% tariffs on imported cars, trucks, automobile parts and steel, and Canada countered with retaliatory tariffs on $20 billion of U.S. goods.
Canada installed a new sign at the lake over the weekend, reading “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.
