MapQuest reaches App Store top spot after refusing to rename lake
Apple Maps now displays “Lake America” instead of Lake Ontario for users in the United States, complying with an executive order President Donald Trump signed last Thursday to rename the Great Lake amid his trade dispute with Canada.
The move mirrors a similar update Google Maps rolled out over the weekend. Apple users outside the US continue to see the lake as Lake Ontario. Apple had reportedly been weighing whether to submit to the order after receiving a personal request from Trump to make the change.
The executive order directs US federal agencies to rename the body of water “Lake America” in US maps, documents, and databases. The order applies only to US federal nomenclature and cannot compel Canadian authorities, who administer the portion of the lake that lies between New York state and the Canadian province of Ontario.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney rejected the renaming in a post on social media, saying the lake’s name comes from the language of the Indigenous Wendat people and predates both the Canadian Confederation and the US Declaration of Independence.
In a Saturday blog post, Google said US users will see “Lake America,” Canadian users will see “Lake Ontario,” and users elsewhere will see both names. Google cited Trump’s order and its practice of using names assigned by the US Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). Google was an early adopter of the “Gulf of America” label that Trump’s 2025 executive order applied to the Gulf of Mexico; the title remains in Google Maps despite limited adoption outside US government usage.
The renaming came after US-Canada trade talks collapsed late last month. The US has imposed 50% tariffs on several Canadian imports, and Trump has threatened additional 50% duties on Canadian steel, trucks, cars, and auto parts to take effect in the new year. Carney retaliated with 25-50% tariffs on hundreds of US goods. The executive order does not mention the trade dispute, stating instead that its purpose is to honor “the extraordinary contributions of the American people and the rich heritage of our history by naming great natural landmarks for our shared achievements.”
Not every mapping service has followed the order. MapQuest, the pioneering online mapping app, reached the No. 1 spot on Apple’s App Store after openly rejecting Trump’s request. MapQuest posted a screenshot of Lake Ontario on social media last Thursday with the caption: “We’re not changing it.”
The corporate adoption of the Trump renaming order is the latest step in the US-Canada trade dispute that prompted the executive order itself and the Canadian pushback, including Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s shoreline installation.