On August 30th, local time, US President Donald Trump posted a map on social media, which indicated that Lake Ontario, located on the border between the United States and Canada, was marked as "Lake of America".
He subsequently forwarded relevant reports on the *Konggqing Shan Bao*.
According to a report by The Hill newspaper on the 30th, due to Trump's related executive orders, Google Maps has changed the name of Lake Ontario to "American Lake" for American users.
Google stated in a statement, "Google Maps will update its content to reflect the changes in the names of official government sources. The corresponding official source in the United States is the US Geographic Names Information System. Users of maps within the United States will see 'Lake of the United States', while users in Canada will still see 'Ontario Lake'. Users in regions outside the United States will see both names."
Reports indicate that Google’s change of name is similar to its actions after Trump renamed the Gulf of Mexico as “United States Bay”.
On January 20, 2025, Trump signed an executive order to rename the Gulf of Mexico as “United States Bay”. Subsequently, Google displayed “United States Bay” for users in the United States, the Gulf of Mexico for users in Mexico, and both names for users in other regions.
In May of that same year, the Mexican government filed a lawsuit against Google.
On August 27 this year, Trump signed an executive order to rename Lake Ontario as “Lake America”.
Regarding this, Canadian Prime Minister Harper stated that the name 'Ontario Lake' has a history of over 400 years, prior to the establishment of the Canadian Federation and the issuance of the Declaration of Independence by the United States of America.
He emphasized that Canadians also understand that respecting reality means that its name is Lake Ontario—it was there in the past, it is there now, and it will always be there.
According to a report by The Guardian on the 30th, Doug Ford, the governor of Ontario, Canada, said in an interview with the American Broadcasting Company (ABC): "No one will call it ‘American Lake’. For hundreds of years, this has been known as Ontario Lake, and it will continue to be called Ontario Lake.”
