Anyone in the United States searching for Lake Ontario on Google Maps can no longer find it as of this weekend.
Users in the country will now see the smallest of the Great Lakes identified as “Lake America” on that site, following President Donald Trump’s executive order on Thursday mandating the change in how the US government refers to the lake amid his tense trade war with Canada.
“The U.S. Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) has formally changed the name for “Lake Ontario” to “Lake America” in the United States,” Google said in a statement on Saturday. “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,” those in Canada will continue to see “Lake Ontario.”
The company added that users not in the US or Canada will see the name for the lake appear both ways, with “Lake America” appearing in parentheses after “Lake Ontario.”
Google said the changes follow their “long-standing policy for bodies of water with names that vary from country to country.”
On Sunday, Trump administration officials celebrated the change on social media, with White House Communications Director Steven Chueng writing, “It’s official! LAKE AMERICA on Google Maps.”
Trump posted a link to an article about the change.
Lake Ontario is jointly controlled by Canada and the United States, per the Boundary Waters Treaty, enacted in the early 20th century to prevent and settle disputes over the use of the shared waters.
While Trump has wide latitude over how the US government refers to geographic landmarks, he can’t force other countries to follow suit.
Canadian officials have made that clear.
The country’s prime minister, Mark Carney, has said his country would “forever” call the lake that straddles both nations’ borders Lake Ontario.
RELATED STORY | Ford says Lake Ontario ‘always’ will keep its name despite Trump order
On Saturday, Ontario Premier Doug Ford took the defiant stance further by unveiling a sign on the Canadian side of the lake with “Lake Ontario” in large font, followed by “Now and Always.”
He then posted a social media video about it, standing in front of the sign while saying, “Let’s be clear: Long before President Trump, this lake was called Lake Ontario. And long after President Trump is gone, it will still be called lake Ontario.”
Trump’s order marks his latest geographic rebrand. The president moved to change “Gulf of Mexico” to “Gulf of America” on his first day back in office in January 2024. Google followed by issuing a similar statement, saying at the time it complied with that name change.
Alternatives to Google Maps, including Waze and Apple Maps, still label the lake as “Lake Ontario” as of Sunday afternoon. MapQuest quickly informed its users in a Thursday social media post: “We’re not changing it.”
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