Apple has renamed Lake Ontario as Lake America on its maps service app, after an order from US President Donald Trump as part of Washington’s trade spat with Canada.
The change was made for US-based users, while those in Canada will continue to see Lake Ontario displayed. The BBC contacted Apple for comment.
The iPhone maker’s move follows Trump’s executive order to change the lake’s name after trade talks between the neighbouring countries collapsed late last month, with Washington imposing new 50% tariffs on $20bn (£14.8bn; C$28bn) worth of Canadian goods.
Rival technology giant Google made a similar switch for its users in the US in recent days, leading to backlash on social media.
Canada has responded to Washington’s levies, saying it will implement “dollar for dollar” counter-tariffs.
Prime Minister Mark Carney’s administration had walked away from the trade negotiations, due to what his office has called unacceptable demands.
Carney told the Trump administration to “start being serious” and stop trying to be tough before discussions between the sides can restart.
Trump’s executive order gives the US Department of the Interior 30 days to update the change with the Geographic Names Information Service – the official database of what places are called in the country.
Apple was specifically urged by Trump to rename Lake Ontario on its Maps platform to comply with the executive order signed, according to US Interior Secretary Doug Burgum
The president has also posted several AI-generated videos on social media, including a clip of him kicking over a Lake Ontario sign and replacing it with another that says “Welcome to Lake America”.
At the lake itself, Canada has installed a new sign with the words “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.
The names of four of the five Great Lakes – Ontario, Huron, Michigan and Erie – come from indigenous words.
Lake Superior was named after an anglicised French word.
Lake Ontario, the smallest of the Great Lakes, sits between the Canadian province and the US state of New York.
Not all map providers have adopted the new name.
MapQuest, a free web mapping service, said “we’re not changing it” in a short Facebook post on Friday.
The platform rose to the top of the most-downloaded free applications earlier this week on the Canadian Apple App Store.
Last week, Google said in a blog post that it had changed the name on its Maps service for US-based users.
The Maps app is updated to “reflect name changes in official government sources”, meaning that users in the US will see Lake America while those in Canada will see Lake Ontario, Google said.
The company made a similar decision in 2025 to re-designate the Gulf of Mexico after Trump declared it would be called the Gulf of America.
Google was sued by Mexico over allegedly ignoring the country’s requests not to rename the Gulf for US users.
Apple also changed the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America on its maps service for US users.
By BBC News
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