President Donald Trump signed an executive order on August 27, 2026, to rename Lake Ontario as Lake America on U.S. maps following the breakdown of trade negotiations with Canada, which also triggered $20 billion in new U.S. tariffs on Canadian goods [1, 2, 3, 4].
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said Trump directly contacted Apple to update Apple Maps to reflect the new name. "The president has reached out to Apple directly. I'm sure we may be seeing that change coming up soon," Burgum said on August 31 [1, 2, 5, 6].
Google Maps updated the lake name for U.S. users over the weekend before August 31. However, Canadian users continue to see Lake Ontario, and users worldwide see both names on Google Maps [1, 2, 7, 3, 4].
MapQuest rejected the renaming order and kept the lake name as Lake Ontario. Instead, they released a feature allowing users to rename the lake as they wish. This refusal sparked a surge in MapQuest app downloads, which increased more than 1000% week-over-week, making it the fourth most downloaded free app in the U.S. and number one navigation app there, as well as the second most popular app in Canada [1, 8, 2, 7, 6]. Doug Berger, MapQuest’s general manager, said, "Hundreds of thousands of people signaled to us this weekend that we got it right by downloading our app." He added, "People spoke with their downloads. They want a mapping app with names they're familiar with." [8, 6]
Other map services such as Organic Maps and Apple Maps still display Lake Ontario as of August 31 but may update soon [1, 7, 6].
Canadian officials strongly oppose the renaming. Ontario Premier Doug Ford unveiled signs declaring "Lake Ontario: Now and Always" to reaffirm the original name. Ford’s statements reflect official resistance to the U.S. order [1, 3, 4]. New York Governor Kathy Hochul also rejected the name change, stating, "New York will never call it that (Lake America)" [3].
Several Ontario government websites briefly showed "Lake America" due to third-party map data updates but have been correcting the errors [1, 3].
The next major development is expected to be Apple’s update of its maps, as Interior Secretary Burgum indicated this change may occur soon [1, 2, 5, 6].
