Apple and Google Rename Lake Ontario to ‘Lake America’ for US Users After Trump’s Order: Were They Legally Obliged to Comply? | Today’s news
After US President Donald Trump signed an executive order renaming Canada’s Lake Ontario to Lake America, US tech giants Apple and Google followed suit in their Maps apps for their US consumers, even though there is no legal obligation for them to do so.
Trump’s move came after trade talks between Washington DC and Canada broke down and Trump imposed 50% tariffs on $20 billion worth of Canadian imports.
U.S. Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum told Fox Business’ Mornings with Maria that Trump reached out directly to Apple and asked them to change the name to Lake America for its U.S. users. “I’m sure we may soon see that change happen,” he said afterward.
It was followed by Google over the weekend. The company released a statement on Saturday revealing that its users in the US will see the name Lake America as the company must comply with Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) requirements.
In the executive order issued by Trump, he directed the interior secretary to “take all appropriate action” to have the name change reflected in GNIS, the official US government map database.
However, not all companies accepted the new name change. MapQuest, which is one of the oldest mapping services (in operation since 1996), declined to change the lake’s name, saying in a Facebook post Friday that “we’re not changing it.”
Are private companies bound by the implementing regulation?
No, private companies are not bound by the executive order issued by the Trump administration. They can still call it Lake Ontario, as MapQuest has decided.
An executive order operates within the executive authority of the president, who basically directs the government’s executive agencies.
What about the Gulf of Mexico, which Trump renamed the Gulf of America?
On January 20, 2025, Trump issued an executive order renaming the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America. GNIS subsequently updated the name according to the order.
Google followed suit and renamed the area for its American users to the Gulf of America. However, their users in Mexico continue to see the area as the Gulf of Mexico.
The same approach was taken by Apple, which adopted the name Gulf of America in its maps for the USA.
