Apple is the latest tech giant to replace the name “Lake Ontario” with “Lake America” on its maps following President Donald Trump’s executive order Thursday amid a bitter trade war between the United States and Canada.

Apple followed in the footsteps of Google, which first renamed the body of water shared between the two longtime allies. Google Maps users in the U.S. will see the lake labeled “Lake America,” while users in Canada still see it labeled “Lake Ontario.” Users outside North America see both names.

Trump celebrated the news in a social media post Tuesday afternoon, saying, “Apple Maps has just announced that it has changed the name of Lake Ontario to Lake America, so now that very important change of names, between Google Maps and Apple Maps, is complete, ratified, and binding. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”

Apple did not immediately respond to MS NOW’s request for comment on its decision, but Interior Secretary Doug Burgum told Fox’s “Mornings with Maria” on Monday that Trump “reached out to Apple directly.”

Meanwhile, MapQuest has surged in popularity after refusing to update the name in accordance with the president’s order. The app now holds the top spot in Apple’s App Store in the U.S., TechCrunch first reported.

The drama involving the lake began after trade talks between the two countries collapsed last weekend. Trump imposed tariffs of up to 50% on $20 billion worth of Canadian goods, and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney vowed to retaliate “dollar for dollar.”

On Thursday, Trump signed an executive order to rename the famous lake as Canadian officials, including Ontario Premier Doug Ford, denounced him for starting the trade war.

Ford, who called Trump a “bully” and “a loser,” doubled down on his condemnation over the weekend, debuting a large sign reading “Lake Ontario, Now and Always” on its shore.

Associate Professor Scott Manning Stevens, director of the Center for Global Indigenous Cultures and Environmental Justice at Syracuse University, characterized Trump’s actions as an erasure of critical history, pointing out that the name “Ontario” is derived from Iroquoian languages meaning, “Beautiful” or “Great” Lake.

“Erasing Native placenames, even when they have been anglicized to some extent, is a form of erasing our shared history and continued presence on this continent,” said Stevens, a citizen of the Akwesasne Mohawk Nation. “North American placenames are highly significant because they point us back to the original inhabitants of this continent and make people, if only briefly, mindful of the difficult history of conquest and displacement.”

It’s far from the first time the president has tried to rebrand a geographical landmark. Trump renamed the Gulf of Mexico to the “Gulf of America” upon taking office again in January 2025, a move met with sharp backlash, particularly from Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum. Sheinbaum mocked Trump, suggesting she rename North America to “América Mexicana.”

That same month, Trump also reverted the name of Denali in Alaska — North America’s tallest peak — back to “Mount McKinley,” after the U.S.’ 25th president, William McKinley. President Barack Obama in 2015 restored its original name Denali, meaning “the high one,” which had long been used by Alaska’s indigenous Athabascan people.

Trump called Obama’s decision “an affront to President McKinley’s life, his achievements, and his sacrifice.”

Both landmarks are displayed on Apple and Google maps in the U.S. as the “Gulf of America” and “Mount McKinley,” respectively.

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