Photo credit: Google. ‘Lake America’ surfaces on US Maps
Google has renamed Lake Ontario as “Lake America” on Google Maps for users in the United States, following President Donald Trump’s announcement that the body of water would be given a new name.
The change, which was visible on Google Maps used by US users on Sunday, has added a fresh dimension to the growing tensions between Washington and Ottawa.
However, users in Canada will continue to see the traditional name, Lake Ontario, which has Indigenous roots and has been used since the 17th century.
Google said the different naming convention was based on its policy of reflecting geographic name changes contained in official government sources.
“Since we update Google Maps to reflect name changes in official government sources, which is GNIS for the US, people using Maps in the US will see ‘Lake America,’ those in Canada will continue to see ‘Lake Ontario,’ and those outside of the US and Canada will see both names,” the company said in a blog post.
The US Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) is the federal database responsible for official geographic names in the United States.
The renaming has not been adopted by Apple Maps, with the application installed on iPhones continuing to display Lake Ontario as of Sunday morning.
The development comes amid escalating trade tensions between the United States and Canada, with both countries imposing tariffs on each other as the Trump administration pursues its “America First” agenda.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford criticised the renaming, describing it as another example of what he called the increasingly strained relationship between the two longtime allies.
“It’s absolutely backwards. It was like something out of ‘Saturday Night Live’ when he signed a document saying — changed to ‘Lake America.’ No one’s going to call it Lake of America,” Ford said during an appearance on ABC’s “This Week.”
“It’s just so disappointing,” he added.
Ford also warned that the ongoing trade dispute could have serious consequences for both economies, particularly the highly integrated automobile industry.
According to him, the impact would be particularly severe for the United States if Canadian purchases of American vehicles declined significantly, given Canada’s position as the largest buyer of US vehicles.
“A tariff on Canada is nothing more than a tax on American people. It’s probably the worst move you could ever do,” Ford said.
The automotive industries of the two countries are closely linked, with Canadian factories supplying a significant quantity of parts used in vehicles manufactured in the United States.
Trump, however, defended his trade position on Sunday, saying Americans wanted greater domestic production of vehicles.
“Canada has been ripping us off for years — NO LONGER!” the US president wrote on his Truth Social platform.
The Lake Ontario dispute echoes Trump’s earlier decision to rename the Gulf of Mexico as the “Gulf of America” in January 2025. Mexico rejected that change, while the United States subsequently adopted the new name in its official federal geographic records.
Lake Ontario is the smallest of the five Great Lakes by surface area and lies along the border between Ontario province in Canada and New York State in the United States.
