Apple Maps renames Lake Ontario sfter Trump's order
Apple Maps now shows ‘Lake America’ for US users, following Google's lead after Trump's executive order
Apple Maps has joined Google in renaming Lake Ontario to "Lake America" for users in the United States, following an executive order signed by President Trump on August 27.
The change is one of the fastest instances yet of a tech company adopting a Trump-ordered geographic renaming, arriving less than a week after the order and just two days after Google made the same switch.
The renaming followed the collapse of trade talks between the US and Canada in late August, after the US imposed 50% tariffs on roughly $20 billion worth of Canadian goods.
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said Trump personally asked Apple to make the change on its navigation platform, a more direct approach than the one Apple took with the Gulf of Mexico renaming earlier in his term, when it waited for federal databases to update before acting.
American customers on Apple Maps are shown "Lake America" if they search for or tap the lake, while Canadians will see "Lake Ontario" and others in other parts of the world will be able to see both.
Similar actions have been taken by Google, who also changed its maps at the same time, prompting online backlash against the company for succumbing to political pressures.
President Trump has already posted videos created by artificial intelligence, in which he replaces the lake's signs with his own choice of names.
In response, Doug Ford, the Premier of Ontario, set up a two-storey-high sign next to the lake's shore, stating "Lake Ontario. Now and Always," and assured reporters that the name would remain long after the current president was gone.
There are also threats of retaliation by the Canadian side in the form of dollar-for-dollar tariffs which are scheduled to be imposed in early September.
