Google Maps has changed the name of “Lake Ontario” to “Lake America” for U.S. users to reflect President Donald Trump’s executive order renaming the lake , according to a Google statement.
Mr. The President’s order affects the U.S. Geographic Names Information System (GNIS), which sets the standards for official U.S. maps. It does not have any impact on Canadian naming conventions or how the rest of the world refers to the lake.
Trump announced on Thursday (August 27, 2026) that he was changing the name of the smallest of the five Great Lakes, part of an escalating trade feud with Canada that has prompted the two countries to impose reciprocal tariffs on billions of dollars in goods.
The LCBO, a major global buyer, is not stocking U.S. alcohol due to the trade war.
“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,’ and those outside of the U.S. and Canada will see both names,” Google said in a blog post issued on Saturday. “President Trump can call it whatever he wants, but I can tell you, the rest of the world will always call it Lake Ontario,” Mr. Ford said. “Some Ontario government agency websites pull map data directly from Google Maps,” Mr. Crawford said on the social media site X. “Following recent changes by Google, we’re actively reviewing our websites to make sure they all identify Lake Ontario by its correct name: Lake Ontario”.
The White House, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney’s office and Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s office did not immediately comment on Google’s decision on Sunday. On Sunday evening, an Ontario minister, Stephen Crawford, said the province was reviewing its websites after Lake America appeared on sites like the Liquor Control Board of Ontario.
