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, days after Trump signed an executive order over the body of water now in the spotlight amid his escalating trade war with Canada.
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. The body of water long known as Lake Ontario sits between the S. state of New York and Canada's Ontario province.
Just over the weekend, competitor Google Maps rolled out the new label for its S. users, citing the recent order by Trump and the company's already-established practice of using names assigned by the S. Geographic Names Information System, also known as GNIS.
"People using Maps in the S. will see 'Lake America,' those in Canada will continue to see 'Lake Ontario,' and those outside of the S. and Canada will see both names," 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 S. 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.
In a separate report, The Independent noted that Apple changed the name of Lake Ontario to Lake America after Trump spoke directly with the company, and that Google and Apple also changed the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America on their Maps apps following an executive order Trump signed earlier in his second term. The Independent has reached out to Apple for comment on the Lake Ontario name change.
Democratic social media influencer Harry Sisson criticized Apple for the move, writing on X, "Apple Maps has changed Lake Ontario to Lake America after Trump pressured them to do so. It's just so pathetic. Why go along with this stupidity??"
Google was also criticized for changing Lake Ontario to Lake America, with progressive media company MeidasTouch writing on X Sunday, "Google Maps has now capitulated to Donald Trump."
MapQuest has refused to relabel Lake Ontario, writing on X, "We're not changing it," when Trump signed the executive order Thursday.
After defying Trump, MapQuest surged in App Store rankings, becoming the No. 1 navigation app and No. 8 overall free app on Sunday night, the highest chart position since the brand launched in 1996.
"We took the same approach we did with the Gulf of Mexico: be part of the conversation, and give people an app that keeps the names they're familiar with," Doug Berger, general manager of MapQuest, said in a Monday press release.