Google renames Lake Ontario to ‘Lake America’ amid escalating trade war with Canada

A second body of water that Google has renamed under Trump rule

Mexico fought the name change, arguing that an international ody of water could not be renamed by one nation alone.

This led to a legal dispute between Google and Mexico, as nowadays US users see “Gulf of America”, Mexican users see “Gulf of Mexico”, and the rest of the world get “Gulf of Mexico (Gulf of America)” displayed onto their screens. 

Trump is now eyeing Canada as the two countries have entered a trade dispute, with the commander in chief posing a 50% tax rate on $20bn (£14.77bn) worth of Canadian imports.

Google has made the decision to retitle the lake due to the US government’s Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) having formally renamed the body of water.

Google stated that “people using Maps in the U.S will see 'Lake America’, those in Canada will continue to see 'Lake Ontario’, and those outside of the U.S. and Canada will see both names.”

"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."

As of Monday morning, the lake’s name appears to be unchanged for UK users. 

Trump signed the decree to rename the lake last Thursday, suggesting he wouldn’t stop there.

"If you think about it, we have a gulf and we have a lake,” said Trump to reporters at the White House. “Now, all we need is an ocean.”

He added that “maybe we'll have to change the name of the Atlantic and/or the Pacific. Maybe we'll change them."

The Canadian reaction to the change has been one of derision. 

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney took on X, saying "The name Lake Ontario comes from the Wendat word Ontari'io.

 “Which, appropriately, means 'the lake is beautiful, the lake is big'.

"The name is more than 400 years old, predating both the Confederation of Canada and the Declaration of Independence of the United States of America."