Google has renamed Lake Ontario to Lake America on its maps following President Donald Trump’s executive order on Thursday amid an escalating trade war between the two longtime allies.
The name change is only visible to American users, according to Google.
“These updates follow our long-standing policy for bodies of water with names that vary from country to country, and are starting to roll out now,” the tech giant said in a statement issued Saturday night.
As of midday Sunday, Apple’s maps had not changed the name of the easternmost of the Great Lakes. Apple did not immediately respond to MS NOW’s request for comment about whether it intends to make the name change.
The Canadian leader doubled down on his condemnation of Trump this weekend, debuting a massive sign reading “Lake Ontario, Now and Always” on its shore.
“You may have heard that President Trump is trying to rename this lake all because he doesn’t like Ontario and Canada standing up for ourselves,” Ford said in a video Saturday while standing in front of the new sign. “But let’s be serious: long before President Trump, this lake was called Lake Ontario. And long after President Trump is gone, it will still be called Lake Ontario.”
Appearing on ABC’s “This Week” Sunday, Ford acknowledged his unusually “heated” rhetoric about Trump last week, saying, “It’s unfortunate that he stoops down to that level, and unfortunately, I did that day.”
Reps. Timothy Kennedy, D-N.Y., Debbie Dingell, D-Mich., and Joseph Morelle, D-N.Y., plan to introduce a bill on Monday called “Hands Off Our Great Lakes Act” to nullify Trump’s executive order.
Kennedy, who represents Buffalo and Niagara Falls, said on MS NOW’s “The Weekend” Sunday, “These are our friends and neighbors. We drink Tim Hortons coffee. We drink Levant Blue beer. We cross the Peace Bridge. Think about that — the Peace Bridge in Canada. It’s called the Peace Bridge for a reason.”
Former Canadian Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland, appearing on the same show, bemoaned the strained relationship.
“If you can’t get along with Canada, is there any country you can get along with?” she said.
Erum Salam is a breaking news reporter for MS NOW, with a focus on how global events and foreign policy shape U.S. politics. She previously was a breaking news reporter for The Guardian.