Trump Presses Apple to Rename Lake Ontario as Lake America After Thursday Order
Updated
Updated · BBC.com · Aug 31
Trump Presses Apple to Rename Lake Ontario as Lake America After Thursday Order
3 articles · Updated · BBC.com · Aug 31
Summary
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said Trump has directly asked Apple to relabel Lake Ontario as “Lake America” on Apple Maps, and said the change could come soon.
Thursday’s executive order followed the collapse of U.S.-Canada trade talks and directs the Interior Department to update the federal GNIS database, the naming standard Google cited for its own switch.
Google already shows “Lake America” to U.S. users, keeps “Lake Ontario” in Canada, and labels it “Lake Ontario (Lake America)” elsewhere; Apple has not commented.
Canadian backlash has intensified: Hydro One apologized after the new name appeared via a third-party mapping service, while Ontario Premier Doug Ford declared the lake will remain Lake Ontario.
MapQuest refused to adopt the change and briefly became the top-downloaded free app in Canada’s Apple App Store after offering users a tool to rename the lake themselves.