Google Maps began showing Lake Ontario as "Lake America" to users in the United States over the weekend, following President 
Donald Trump's executive order renaming the Great Lake. Users in Canada still see Lake Ontario, while those outside the two countries see both names, Google said in a blog post on Saturday. The update came days after Trump signed the order on Thursday, amid an escalating trade war in which the U.S. and Canada have imposed billions of dollars in added tariffs on each other's goods.
Why did Google make the change? Google said it updates Maps to reflect name changes in official government sources, which for the U.S. is the Geographic Names Information System, or GNIS. The order directs Interior Secretary Doug Burgum to "take all appropriate actions" to rename the lake, including updating GNIS, the BBC reported. Google made a similar change last year, labelling the Gulf of Mexico the "Gulf of America" after an earlier Trump order.
What are other map providers doing? Burgum told Fox Business on Monday that "the president has reached out to Apple directly" and that "we may be seeing that change coming up soon," the BBC reported. Microsoft had no comment on its plans for Bing Maps. MapQuest took the opposite course, posting "we're not changing it." Its iOS app rose to No. 1 among navigation apps in the U.S. App Store, and the company said it had drawn "hundreds of thousands" of new downloads, TechCrunch reported.
How has Canada responded? Ontario Premier Doug Ford unveiled a large lakeside sign on Saturday reading "Lake Ontario: Now and Always" in English and French. "No one's going to call it Lake of America," Ford told American TV host George Stephanopoulos on Sunday, the BBC reported. Toronto-based utility Hydro One apologised the same day after its map displayed the Lake America name, saying it had appeared through the company's use of a third-party mapping service.
How have U.S. officials responded? New York Governor Kathy Hochul said "New York won't be calling it that," and Phil Scott, the Republican governor of neighbouring Vermont, called Trump's decision "petty and disappointing" on social media, the Korea Times reported. In Congress, House Democrats made a move that The Hill reported was aimed at blocking Trump's attempted renaming of the lake.
Figures referenced: Donald Trump. — JudgeMarket.
