Google issues statement as Lake Ontario renamed ‘Lake America’ on US maps
Google has confirmed it’s updated its US maps in response to a fresh executive order from President Donald Trump.
Anyone opening Google Maps in the United States will now see Lake Ontario labelled as ‘Lake America’, after Trump signed an executive order on Aug. 27 instructing federal agencies to adopt the new name.
The tech giant explained the switch in a statement issued Saturday, Aug. 29, confirming it simply follows its own long-standing policy of mirroring official government naming databases.
“The U.S. Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) has formally changed the name for ‘Lake Ontario’ to ‘Lake America’ in the United States,” the company said, adding that the change will look different depending on where in the world you’re logging in from.
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Why has Lake Ontario been renamed Lake America?
The order arrives amid escalating trade tensions between Washington and Ottawa, with Trump accusing Canada of unfair trade practices and insufficient contributions to its own defense.
Speaking in the Oval Office after signing the order, the president didn’t hold back on his frustrations with America’s northern neighbor.
“We defend Canada for nothing… They don’t pay us to defend Canada, but we defend Canada,” he told reporters.
“They don’t pay for anything, and they want to be treated like a state, but they’re not a state. They want to be treated like they’re a state and we just can’t do that anymore.”
It’s not the first time Trump has taken aim at a shared body of water’s name.
He previously renamed the Gulf of Mexico the 'Gulf of America' earlier in his presidency, and told reporters the Lake Ontario switch was something he’d 'been thinking about for a long time.'
Will Lake Ontario’s name change outside the US?
While the US government can dictate names for federal use, it has no authority to force Canada, or any international body, to follow suit.
According to Google, that’s reflected directly in the app. Users in Canada will continue to see ‘Lake Ontario’, while anyone browsing from outside North America will be shown both names.
“Since we update Google Maps to reflect name changes in official government sources, which is GNIS for the U.S., people using Maps in the U.S. will see ‘Lake America’... These updates follow our long-standing policy for bodies of water with names that vary from country to country, and are starting to roll out now,” Google added.
Unsurprisingly, the move hasn’t gone down well north of the border. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney hit back in a post on X, pointing out that the lake’s original name predates both countries entirely.
“The name Lake Ontario comes from the Wendat word Ontari’io, which, appropriately, means ‘the lake is beautiful, the lake is big,’” he wrote.
“The name is more than 400 years old, predating both the Confederation of Canada and the Declaration of Independence of the United States of America.”
Carney added pointedly: “We know that America is changing. Their trading relationships, their foreign policies, their national monuments, their hydronyms... Canadians also know that naming reality means calling it Lake Ontario – then, now and always.”
Meanwhile, White House Communications Director Steven Cheung marked the update on X, writing: “It’s official! LAKE AMERICA on Google Maps.”
Trump himself shared a link to coverage of the change on Truth Social.
The lake, bordered by New York to the south and the Canadian province of Ontario to the north, is shared between the two countries, and the renaming follows Trump’s threat of a 50% tariff on Canadian cars, trucks and automotive parts from 2027.
Carney has vowed to match those tariffs 'dollar for dollar' from Sept. 8.
Topics: Google Maps, Donald Trump
Thomas Bamford