Trump presses Apple to rename Lake Ontario amid trade dispute

Lake Ontario has become an unexpected point of tension in the U.S.-Canada trade dispute, with President Donald Trump asking Apple to display the name Lake America on its platforms.

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said Trump had contacted Apple directly. “I am sure that we will soon be able to see the change,” Burgum said in an interview with Fox Business program Mornings with Maria, according to the BBC.

The name change follows a presidential decree issued in the United States after trade talks with Canada collapsed. The two countries had negotiated for several weeks over a tariff agreement without reaching a deal. The United States then imposed 50% tariffs on selected Canadian goods, while Canada announced retaliatory tariffs on a range of U.S. products beginning Sept. 8.

“

The president has reached out directly to Apple.

Google Maps has already changed the name for U.S. users. The change follows the decree’s effect on the Geographic Names Information System, a public U.S. database of geographic names. Users in Canada still see Lake Ontario, the lake’s established name there.

The lake is the smallest of the Great Lakes and sits on the U.S.-Canada border. It is not the first geographic name Trump has changed in the United States. His administration also renamed the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America in the federal database.

Trump has repeatedly said Canada should become the 51st U.S. state and has shown interest in several foreign countries and territories, including Greenland. The dispute over Lake Ontario therefore combines a digital naming change with the wider political and commercial friction between the neighboring countries.

“

I am sure that we will soon be able to see the change.