Trump Has Asked Apple to Change Lake Ontario to ‘Lake America,’ US Official Says

U.S. President Donald Trump is asking Apple to change the name Lake Ontario on its maps to “Lake America,” according to a senior administration official.

U.S. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum told the Fox Business network during an Aug. 31 interview that he expects the body of water’s name to soon be changed on all Apple maps.

“I know that the president reached out to Apple directly,” Burgum said. “So I’m sure that we may be seeing that change coming up soon to Lake America.”

Trump issued an executive order last week to rename the Great Lake amid rising tensions between the two nations following a collapse in trade negotiations.

Google has already made the change, updating its map service over the weekend to identify the lake as “Lake America” for users located in the United States. Apple has yet to do so.

The tech company did not immediately respond to a request for comment on whether it will follow suit. If it refuses, it will not be alone.

MapQuest has already stated that it does not plan to implement the U.S. president’s update, declaring in a social media post: “We’re not changing it.”

Google announced on its corporate website on  Aug. 29 that the change was implemented to its Maps feature following the formal renaming of the lake by the U.S. government’s geographic names database.

Initially that change was also implemented on Canadian websites but has since been reversed so that the body of water continues to be displayed as Lake Ontario for Google Map users in Canada. The error elicited comment from Ontario Premier Doug Ford and Ontario Minister of Public and Business Service Delivery and Procurement Stephen Crawford over the weekend after maps on Hydro One, Metrolinx, Infrastructure Ontario, and the Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO) websites all showed “Lake America.”  

Crawford said in a social media post that the province would review all of its sites to ensure the great lake is properly identified. The name had been changed to Lake Ontario on all sites by Aug. 31.

Ford shared Crawford’s post with his own comments, saying, “Make no mistake: Lake Ontario is and always will be Lake Ontario.”

The post came a day after Ford unveiled a billboard that reads “Lake Ontario, now and always” on Aug. 31 in Winona, Ont., a small lakeside community in Hamilton.

“President Trump can call it whatever he wants, but I can tell you, the rest of the world will ​always call it Lake Ontario,” Ford told reporters during the unveiling.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul is also declining to make the change to “Lake America” on New York state maps. 

“New York won’t be calling it that,” the Democrat governor of the state that lies along the south and east shores of the lake said in a social media post.

Trump first threatened to rename Lake Ontario on Aug. 24 during a verbal spat with Ford after Canada halted negotiations with the United States and made the name change official on Aug. 27.

Lake Ontario’s name dates back to the 1640s, predating the formation of both Canada and the United States. The lake also inspired the name of the province in 1867 when Ontario became a province during Canadian Confederation.