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Trump Asks Apple to Rename Lake Ontario 'Lake America' on Its Maps
US Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said President Trump reached out to Apple directly about renaming Lake Ontario to 'Lake America' on Apple Maps. Google has already started displaying the new name for US users, while Apple Maps still shows Lake Ontario. Canadian officials and Indigenous groups have rejected the renaming.
By Tertius News AI Desk2 distinct · 2 mastheads · 2 articlesVersion 1Coverage Published
US Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said Monday that President Donald Trump has contacted Apple directly about renaming Lake Ontario to “Lake America” on Apple Maps, as part of a broader push to adopt the new designation in federal records.
Speaking to Fox Business, Burgum said Trump reached out to Apple after issuing an executive order directing the US government to use the name “Lake America” in official mapping systems. “I know that the president reached out to Apple directly, so I'm sure that we may be seeing that change coming up soon to Lake America,” Burgum said. He added that the change would “cascade down to all the map providers.”
The president signed the executive order renaming Lake Ontario “Lake America” last week, days after Canada-US trade talks broke off and the US imposed steep tariffs on Canadian goods. Canada responded with retaliatory levies set to take effect next week.
Google Maps has already begun showing “Lake America” for users in the United States, while users in Canada still see Lake Ontario. Users elsewhere see both names. Google said the approach follows its policy for geographic features whose names differ between countries, reflecting official changes in the US Geographic Names Information System. However, Apple Maps continues to list the lake as Lake Ontario as of Monday afternoon. Apple did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
MapQuest said it would not adopt the renaming, just as it declined to change the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America, instead letting users customise the names on their maps.
Canadian officials have rejected the change. Prime Minister Mark Carney said in a social media post that the lake “will be known as Lake Ontario now and always,” noting that “Ontario” derives from the Wendat language and predates both the United States and modern Canada. Ontario Premier Doug Ford also rejected the designation, as did New York Governor Kathy Hochul, who said her state would continue to call it Lake Ontario. The Seneca Nation criticised the proposal, saying the historic name reflects the region’s Indigenous heritage.
The renaming is part of a series of geographic rebranding efforts under President Trump, including the earlier order renaming the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America.
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Framing: Highlights a specific, surprising request by Trump to Apple to rename Lake Ontario on its maps, based on a U.S. official's claim. — Measured and factual, reporting developments without overt alarm or strong emotional language.
Facts Included:
President Donald Trump asked Apple to change the name of Lake Ontario to 'Lake America' on its maps, according to a senior U.S. government official.
Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum told Fox Business on Monday that Trump 'reached out to Apple directly' about the renaming.
Burgum said: 'So I'm sure that we may be seeing that change coming up, coming up soon, to Lake America.'
Trump signed an executive order to rename Lake Ontario 'Lake America' on Thursday.
Trade talks broke off and steep United States tariffs were imposed on a range of Canadian goods just days before the executive order.
Canada hit back with retaliatory levies, which are set to come into effect next week.
Prime Minister Mark Carney rejected the name change, saying in a social media post that the lake will be known as Lake Ontario 'now and always.'
Google announced on Saturday that Google Maps users in the United States would see 'Lake America' instead of Lake Ontario.
Google said: 'The U.S. Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) has formally changed the name for Lake Ontario to Lake America in the United States.'
Google said Google Maps users in Canada would continue to see Lake Ontario, but maps on several websites for Ontario and Canadian entities appeared to display Lake America on Sunday.
On Monday, several of those affected maps — including on the Hydro One and LCBO websites in Ontario — were once again displaying Lake Ontario.
Apple did not immediately respond to CBC News' request for comment on Monday afternoon about whether Trump asked for the lake to be renamed on Apple Maps and whether it plans to make the change.
When accessing Apple Maps in Canada on Monday afternoon, the platform still listed the lake as Lake Ontario.
Trump signed a similar executive order in 2025 renaming the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America.
The order applies only to U.S. federal documents and geographic services, but some online map services and U.S. news agencies have taken to calling it the Gulf of America.
Apple Maps currently labels the area as 'Gulf of Mexico (Gulf of America).'
Framing: Trump's request to Apple to rename Lake Ontario is the headline's focus.
Facts Included:
US President Donald Trump has contacted Apple over the company’s mapping service, seeking to have Lake Ontario renamed “Lake America” on Apple Maps, US Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said Monday.
Burgum said Trump had personally reached out to Apple after issuing an executive order directing the US government to adopt the name “Lake America” in federal records and mapping systems.
“I know that the president reached out to Apple directly, so I'm sure that we may be seeing that change coming up soon to Lake America,” Burgum said during an interview with Fox Business.
Trump announced the name change last week amid escalating tensions between the United States and Canada.
While Google Maps has begun displaying “Lake America” for users in the US, Apple Maps continues to identify the body of water as Lake Ontario.
According to Burgum, the change would then “cascade down to all the map providers”, potentially encouraging other mapping companies to adopt the new designation.
The Interior Department’s Geographic Names Information System is the US government’s official database for geographic names used by federal agencies.
Apple had not responded to requests for comment at the time of publication.
Google has already begun rolling out the change, but its Maps service is using different names depending on the user’s location.
US users will see “Lake America”, while users in Canada will continue to see “Lake Ontario”.
People accessing Google Maps elsewhere will see both names.
Google said the approach follows its existing policy for geographic features whose names differ between countries.
MapQuest said it would not rename Lake Ontario “Lake America”.
The company also declined to adopt Trump’s earlier change from “Gulf of Mexico” to “Gulf of America”, instead giving users an option to customise the name displayed on their maps.
Lake Ontario is one of North America’s five Great Lakes and forms part of the border between New York state and the Canadian province of Ontario.
Canadian officials have said they will continue using its historic name.
Prime Minister Mark Carney has pointed to the lake’s Indigenous history, noting that “Ontario” derives from the Wendat language and predates the creation of both the United States and modern Canada.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford has also rejected the US designation, while New York Governor Kathy Hochul said her state would continue referring to the lake as Lake Ontario.
The Seneca Nation has likewise criticised the proposed renaming, saying the historic name reflects the Indigenous heritage of the region.
The renaming is part of a broader pattern of geographic rebranding pursued by Trump since returning to office.
AI-extracted; can misattribute a claim — see Methodology.
Each row is one claim, attributed to the outlet whose wording states it most clearly. Confidence rates how directly the source text states the claim — explicit and unhedged rates high; hedged, pieced-together, or internally inconsistent statements rate lower. It does not measure whether the claim is true. Status is Contested when two claims on this page negate each other; otherwise it counts the distinct outlets we found asserting that specific claim — so a single-source claim can still show high confidence, and a multi-source claim can show medium. Every one of those outlets is named beside the status, so you can check the count against the list. For claims extracted before we began storing that list, the row says so: it names the outlet the claim is quoted from and states that we have not recorded which outlets backed it. Outlets wrote at different times, so a figure that evolves — a casualty count, for example — can legitimately differ between rows; check the "as of" time next to each claim's source.
Claim
Confidence
Status
ClaimUS Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said President Donald Trump has contacted Apple seeking to have Lake Ontario renamed “Lake America” on Apple Maps.
ClaimU.S. Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum told Fox Business that President Trump reached out directly to Apple about renaming Lake Ontario to 'Lake America'.
ConfidenceHigh
StatusMulti-source (2 outlets · 2 distinct) via Times Now , CBC
ClaimBurgum said Trump has personally reached out to Apple to adopt the name change to 'Lake America.'
ClaimApple did not immediately respond to CBC News' request for comment about whether Trump asked for the lake to be renamed on Apple Maps, and whether it plans to make the change.
ClaimThe executive order to rename the Gulf applies only to U.S. federal documents and geographic services, but some online map services and U.S. news agencies have taken to calling it the Gulf of America.
ClaimThe company also declined to adopt Trump's earlier change from 'Gulf of Mexico' to 'Gulf of America,' instead giving users an option to customise the name displayed on their maps.
ClaimCanadian officials have said they will continue using the lake's historic name.
ConfidenceHigh
StatusMulti-source (2 outlets · 2 distinct) via Times Now , CBC
ClaimPrime Minister Mark Carney pointed to the lake's Indigenous history, noting that 'Ontario' derives from the Wendat language and predates the creation of both the United States and modern Canada.
ClaimOntario Premier Doug Ford has also rejected the US designation, while New York Governor Kathy Hochul said her state would continue referring to the lake as Lake Ontario.