Google updates maps to show "Lake America" in U.S. after Trump order
Google announced that it had begun rolling out changes to how its maps display Lake Ontario's name, after President Trump signed an executive order changing it to "Lake America."
Updated on: August 30, 2026 / 9:51 AM EDT / CBS News
The president signed an executive order last week to rename the lake, which sits between Canada's most populous province, Ontario, and New York state. The move came after he had threatened the change earlier in the week as tense trade dynamics between the historically allied countries came to a head.
People in the U.S. will see "Lake America" on their maps, while in Canada, they will see "Lake Ontario," Google said in a statement on Saturday. Beyond the U.S. and Canada, people will see both names displayed on their map, with "Lake America" appearing in parentheses.
"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," Google said.
The U.S. and Canada have been locked in a tense trade fight in recent weeks after negotiators failed to reach an agreement to end the standoff. Earlier this month, the U.S. began imposing 50% tariffs on hundreds of Canadian goods, prompting Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney to announce that Canada will begin imposing matching tariffs of up to 50% on billions of dollars of U.S. goods next month.