Apple Maps renamed Lake Ontario “Lake America” this week, just days after President Donald Trump reportedly contacted the technology company to urge the change.
Apple confirmed to Reuters that the name was changed on Tuesday following an update to the Geographic Names Information System, the federal database for nomenclature.
Trump signed an executive order Aug. 27 directing Interior Secretary Doug Burgum to rename Lake Ontario, one of the five Great Lakes, amid an escalating trade war with Canada. At the time Trump insisted he was sending “no message” to the northern neighbor with the order despite suggesting earlier that it was connected to failed negotiations on a trade deal.
The executive order says that because more of the lake’s volume lies within territory claimed by the U.S., Trump has the right to unilaterally change its name.
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Name-change requests traditionally take months or even years to accomplish, though such conventions were upended after Trump’s second inauguration when he unilaterally renamed the Gulf of Mexico the “Gulf of America.” The rollout was chaotic as the White House pressured news media and the mapping divisions of Apple and Google to reflect the change.
The “Lake America” change appeared to have been smoother, even as some Republican leaders in the Midwest and Northeast pushed back against the order and Democrats vowed to not comply.
Burgum told Fox’s “Mornings with Maria” that Trump “reached out to Apple directly” about the name change, which happened the same day that Apple’s new CEO, John Ternus, began his tenure.
Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Google said in a statement Sunday that it formally changed the name to “Lake America” as part of its policy to mirror official government sources. U.S-based users will see “Lake America,” Canada-based users will see Lake Ontario and users elsewhere in the world will see both names, the company added.
Apple is poised to follow a similar structure, according to Reuters.
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