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Trump asks Apple to rename Lake Ontario 'Lake America' on Maps, interior chief says
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said President Trump reached out directly to Apple to relabel Lake Ontario as 'Lake America' on its Maps app, amid an escalating trade war with Canada. Apple has since begun showing the new name to S. users, following similar action by Google Maps, while Canadian users still see 'Lake Ontario.' The renaming has drawn criticism from Canadian officials and the Seneca Nation, which calls it a violation of a treaty.
By Tertius News AI Desk2 distinct · 6 mastheads · 6 articlesVersion 1Coverage Published
Trump administration presses Apple to change Lake Ontario's name on Maps
S. President Donald Trump has asked Apple to change the name of Lake Ontario to "Lake America" on its Maps app, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said Monday on Fox's "Mornings with Maria" program. Burgum said Trump "reached out to Apple directly" and expressed confidence that the "Lake America" name could soon appear on Apple's platform.
The request comes days after Trump signed an executive order directing the Interior Department to update the lake's name in the S. Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). The move is one of the latest provocations during a trade war with Canada that has seen tariffs rise on both sides of the border.
Apple did not immediately comment Monday in response to the request. As of Tuesday, however, the company confirmed to Reuters that it had begun showing the "Lake America" name to S. users, explaining that the change was made to keep Maps in line with the name used in GNIS. The roll-out appeared to be gradual, with some S. users still seeing "Lake Ontario" as of Tuesday night, according to FOX 4 News. Users in Canada will continue to see "Lake Ontario," while those elsewhere will see both names.
The location-based naming mirrors the system Apple used when the Trump administration redesignated the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America. Google Maps had already adopted the new label over the weekend, citing Trump's order and its practice of using names assigned by GNIS. In a statement Saturday, Google said the update "follow[s] our long-standing policy for bodies of water with names that vary from country to country."
The renaming follows Trump's executive order last week, which directed the Interior Department to change the name of the easternmost Great Lake. The president, however, does not have the authority to change the name of the lake outside the , where it is known as Lake Ontario.
Reactions from Canada and the Seneca Nation
The renaming drew immediate criticism. Officials in Canada panned the idea, as did the leader of the Seneca Nation in upstate New York, who said the move violates a more than 225-year-old treaty and shows "blatant disrespect" for the Indigenous people who originally named the lake.
MapQuest, a Denver-based mapping company, also opposed the change. In a Facebook post, the company shared a picture of a lake labeled "Lake Ontario" and wrote, "We're not changing it." The stance has boosted MapQuest's popularity, propelling it to the top of the list of navigation apps in Apple's App Store and fifth overall on Google Play, as reported by FOX 4 News.
How each outlet told it
A framing line is our reading of that outlet's own text — an interpretation, not a quotation and not a fact we assert. Check it against what the outlet published.
President Donald Trump has asked Apple to change the name of Lake Ontario to 'Lake America' on its maps app, his administration's interior chief said Monday
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum told Fox's 'Mornings with Maria' program that Trump 'reached out to Apple directly'
He said he was confident the 'Lake America' name could be seen on its platform soon
Apple did not immediately comment in response Monday
Just over the weekend, competitor Google Maps rolled out the new label for its users — citing the recent order by Trump, and the company's already-established practice of using names assigned by the Geographic Names Information System, also known as GNIS
Google said in a brief statement on Saturday, reiterating that such updates 'follow our long-standing policy for bodies of water with names that vary from country to country'
Trump declared the new 'Lake America' name last week — marking one of the latest provocations during his trade war with Canada that is now hiking tariffs on both sides of the border
His executive order on Friday directed the Interior Department to update the lake's name in the geographic naming service
The president cannot force Canada to follow along, however
And America's northern neighbors quickly panned the idea
The leader of the Seneca Nation in upstate New York also said the move violates a more than 225-year-old treaty and shows a 'blatant disrespect' for the Indigenous people who gave Lake Ontario its name in the first place
Framing: The headline emphasizes the switch to 'Lake America' in Apple Maps for some users.
Facts Included:
Apple has changed the name of Lake Ontario to Lake America in its Maps app for users in the United States.
The new name began appearing for users on Tuesday, just a day after the Trump administration revealed that it appealed directly to the tech giant to make the switch.
Apple confirmed to Reuters that the new name is being shown to users, explaining that the change was made to keep Maps in line with the name used in the U.S. Geographic Names Information System.
Users in Canada will see 'Lake Ontario,' while those elsewhere will see both names.
As of Tuesday night, the changeover appears to still be ongoing with some users seeing the new name, while others in the U.S. still have the Lake Ontario name.
The location-based naming mirrors the system Apple used when the Trump administration redesignated the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America.
During an appearance on Fox’s 'Mornings with Maria,' Interior Secretary Doug Burgum explained that President Donald Trump reached out directly to Apple to urge the Cupertino, California-based company to use the Lake America name.
Last week, Trump had signed the order that directed Burgum’s agency to change the name of the easternmost Great Lake as the United States’ trade war with Canada continues.
The president, however, does not have the authority to change the name of the lake outside of the U.S.
Officials in Canada blasted the idea, as did the leader of the Seneca Nation, who said the new name violates a 225-year-old treaty and shows 'blatant disrespect' to the Indigenous people who originally named the lake.
MapQuest came out against using the new name or multiple names.
In a Facebook post, the Denver-based company shared a picture of a lake labeled 'Lake Ontario' and wrote, 'We’re not changing it.'
Its stance has offered a boost to MapQuest, which has shot to the top of the list of navigation apps in Apple’s App Store and currently sits fifth overall on Google Play.
Framing: The headline emphasizes that Trump has asked Apple to change the name of Lake Ontario to 'Lake America' on its maps, and attributes this information to the interior chief
Facts Included:
President Donald Trump has asked Apple to change the name of Lake Ontario to “Lake America” on its maps app
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum told Fox's “Mornings with Maria” program that Trump “reached out to Apple directly”
Burgum said he was confident the “Lake America” name could be seen on its platform soon
Apple did not immediately comment in response
Only the Lake Ontario name appeared on its platform as of Monday afternoon
competitor Google Maps rolled out the new “Lake America” name for users looking at the body of water that sits between the state of New York and Canada’s Ontario province
The company cited the recent order by Trump, and its already-established practice of using names assigned by the U.S. Geographic Names Information System, also known as GNIS
Google said in a brief statement on Saturday, reiterating that such updates “follow our long-standing policy for bodies of water with names that vary from country to country”
Trump declared the new “Lake America” name last week — marking one of the latest provocations during his trade war with Canada that is now hiking tariffs on both sides of the border
His executive order on Friday directed the Interior Department to update the lake's name in the U.S. geographic naming service
The president cannot force Canada to follow along
America's northern neighbors quickly panned the idea
The leader of the Seneca Nation in upstate New York also said the move violates a more than 225-year-old treaty and shows a “blatant disrespect” for the Indigenous people who gave Lake Ontario its name in the first place
Last year, Trump ordered that the Gulf of Mexico be renamed the Gulf of America — and both Apple and Google later updated the name on their maps
Framing: The action of Trump asking Apple to change the name, framed through the interior chief's statement
Facts Included:
President Donald Trump has asked Apple to change the name of Lake Ontario to 'Lake America' on its maps app, his administration's interior chief said Monday
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum told Fox's 'Mornings with Maria' program that Trump 'reached out to Apple directly'
He said he was confident the 'Lake America' name could be seen on its platform soon
Apple did not immediately comment in response Monday
Just over the weekend, competitor Google Maps rolled out the new label for its users — citing the recent order by Trump, and the company's already-established practice of using names assigned by the Geographic Names Information System, also known as GNIS
Google said in a brief statement on Saturday, reiterating that such updates 'follow our long-standing policy for bodies of water with names that vary from country to country'
Trump declared the new 'Lake America' name last week — marking one of the latest provocations during his trade war with Canada that is now hiking tariffs on both sides of the border
His executive order on Friday directed the Interior Department to update the lake's name in the geographic naming service
The president cannot force Canada to follow along, however
And America's northern neighbors quickly panned the idea
The leader of the Seneca Nation in upstate New York also said the move violates a more than 225-year-old treaty and shows a 'blatant disrespect' for the Indigenous people who gave Lake Ontario its name in the first place
President Donald Trump has asked Apple to change the name of Lake Ontario to 'Lake America' on its maps app, his administration's interior chief said Monday
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum told Fox's 'Mornings with Maria' program that Trump 'reached out to Apple directly'
He said he was confident the 'Lake America' name could be seen on its platform soon
Apple did not immediately comment in response Monday
Just over the weekend, competitor Google Maps rolled out the new label for its users — citing the recent order by Trump, and the company's already-established practice of using names assigned by the Geographic Names Information System, also known as GNIS
Google said in a brief statement on Saturday, reiterating that such updates 'follow our long-standing policy for bodies of water with names that vary from country to country'
Trump declared the new 'Lake America' name last week — marking one of the latest provocations during his trade war with Canada that is now hiking tariffs on both sides of the border
His executive order on Friday directed the Interior Department to update the lake's name in the geographic naming service
The president cannot force Canada to follow along, however
And America's northern neighbors quickly panned the idea
The leader of the Seneca Nation in upstate New York also said the move violates a more than 225-year-old treaty and shows a 'blatant disrespect' for the Indigenous people who gave Lake Ontario its name in the first place
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
ClaimPresident Donald Trump has asked Apple to change the name of Lake Ontario to 'Lake America' on its maps app.
ClaimGoogle cited Trump's order and its practice of using names assigned by the U.S. Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) as reasons for the label change.
ClaimThe leader of the Seneca Nation in upstate New York said the move violates a more than 225-year-old treaty and shows a 'blatant disrespect' for the Indigenous people who gave Lake Ontario its name.
ClaimApple confirmed to Reuters that the new name is being shown to U.S. users, explaining that the change was made to keep Maps in line with the name used in the U.S. Geographic Names Information System.
2 distinct · 6 mastheads · 6 articles consulted: The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Hartford Courant, FOX 4 News, The Manila Times, Santa Ana Orange County Register, Norfolk Virginian-Pilot24 claims extractedVersion 1Written 2026-09-02