Google has begun labeling Lake Ontario as “Lake America” on its Maps application for users in the United States, implementing an executive order President Donald Trump signed last week as his trade war with Canada continues to escalate. The change, confirmed in a Google blog post issued Saturday, means American users will now see the new name while Canadian users continue to see “Lake Ontario,” and users elsewhere in the world will see both labels side by side.
Google said the update reflects its long-standing practice of aligning its Maps application with official government naming sources, in this case the U.S. Geographic Names Information System, which sets standards for federal maps and which the president’s order directed to be updated. Google explained the rollout by noting that people using Maps in the U.S. will see “Lake America,” those in Canada will continue to see “Lake Ontario,” and those outside both countries will see both names.
The move mirrors Google’s handling of Trump’s renaming of the Gulf of Mexico to the “Gulf of America” during his first days back in office last year, when the company similarly updated its Maps application to reflect the new designation for U.S. users while leaving the body of water’s international name unchanged elsewhere. Apple, whose Maps application competes with Google’s, made the same change for the Gulf last year, though it was not immediately clear whether Apple would follow suit on Lake Ontario. Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Trump Signs the Order Amid Collapsing Trade Talks
Trump signed the executive order on Thursday, directing the Interior Department to update the lake’s designation in federal records as part of an escalating dispute with Canada. The president has said the change is tied to what he describes as unfair trade practices, telling reporters he was making the move because Canada had been treating the United States poorly on trade for years.
The renaming follows the breakdown of trade negotiations between Washington and Ottawa. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney walked away from talks on August 21, calling the proposed terms a “bad deal” that would damage Canada’s economy and sovereignty. The collapse triggered new U.S. tariffs of 50 percent on roughly $20 billion worth of Canadian goods, with retaliatory Canadian tariffs on American goods expected to take effect September 8.
Carney and Ford Push Back
Carney responded to the renaming in a statement posted Thursday, arguing that the name Ontario is an Indigenous term that predates the founding of both Canada and the United States. He said that America is changing — its trading relationships, its foreign policies, its national monuments, its hydronyms — but that Canadians know naming reality means calling the lake Ontario, then, now and always.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford escalated his response over the weekend, unveiling a large lakeside sign in Winona, Ontario, reading “Lake Ontario: Now and Always” in both English and French. Appearing on ABC’s “This Week with George Stephanopoulos” on Sunday, Ford compared the moment to a “Saturday Night Live” sketch, saying no one would call it “Lake of America,” that it had been Lake Ontario for hundreds of years, and that it would continue being Lake Ontario.
Ford also told Reuters that Trump could call the lake whatever he wanted, but that the rest of the world would always call it Lake Ontario. Ontario legislator Marit Stiles echoed the sentiment, stating flatly that it would always be Lake Ontario.
U.S. Governors Split Along the Border
The reaction inside the United States has not been uniformly favorable to the White House. New York Governor Kathy Hochul, a Democrat whose state borders the lake, wrote on social media that New York would not be calling it that. Hochul has been an outspoken critic of the broader trade dispute, saying earlier in the week that the administration was treating American allies as enemies and that families were suffering as a result.
Trump responded directly to Hochul on Friday, accusing her of siding with Canada in the dispute. He said Canadian leaders viewed her as weak and ineffective and suggested she would rather see Canada come out ahead than support the new name, adding that New York had been taken advantage of for years and treated poorly along the waterway he now insists is called Lake America.
Vermont’s Republican governor, Phil Scott, broke with the president as well, calling the order petty and disappointing and arguing that further escalation does nothing to help American or Canadian families and businesses. He said the two countries should instead be at the negotiating table finding a path that strengthens both economies. Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers also criticized the move, joining Hochul and Scott among state leaders who rejected or mocked the renaming.
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton weighed in as well, writing simply on social media that it is Lake Ontario.
Limits of the Executive Order
Legal experts have noted that Trump’s order does not carry authority beyond U.S. federal usage. The Geographic Names Information System change affects official U.S. government maps and materials but does not bind states, private companies, news organizations or any other country. U.S. states remain free to continue using “Lake Ontario” on state maps, highway signage and tourism materials, and Canada’s naming conventions are unaffected entirely.
Analysts have also pointed to a broader pattern in how government-imposed name changes take hold, or fail to. Research on geographic renaming has shown a frequent disconnect between an official redesignation made by leaders and the names ordinary people and communities continue to use, a dynamic that can blunt the practical effect of a federal directive even when it is technically enforced on government platforms.
Lake Ontario, the smallest of the five Great Lakes, borders Ontario province and New York state and connects the Great Lakes system to the Atlantic Ocean via the St. Lawrence Seaway. Its watershed is home to roughly 5.6 million people across the U.S. and Canada, according to the Center for Great Lakes Literacy. The name Ontario is commonly traced to a Wendat word meaning “the lake is beautiful, the lake is big,” or alternately translated as “lake of shining waters,” with historians noting it predates both the Canadian Confederation and the U.S. Declaration of Independence by roughly four centuries.
A Familiar Pattern for the Administration
Trump leaned into the controversy following the signing, posting an AI-generated video depicting geese with his signature hairstyle firing weapons beneath a sign reading “Lake America.” The renaming follows the precedent set by his administration’s handling of the Gulf of Mexico dispute last year, when the Associated Press was barred from certain White House press pool events for weeks after declining to adopt the “Gulf of America” name exclusively in its own reporting. The AP later rejoined the pool in April 2025 after winning a federal lawsuit alleging First Amendment retaliation.
The White House, Carney’s office and Ford’s office did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Sunday following Google’s confirmation of the Maps update.
The dispute over the lake’s name has unfolded alongside a broader war of words between the two governments, with Trump reviving past comments suggesting Canada become the 51st U.S. state and describing Carney and Canadian leadership as “nasty.” Canadians have largely rallied behind Carney amid the dispute, even as the country braces for the economic consequences of a prolonged trade standoff with its largest trading partner.