President Donald Trump pressed Apple to update its maps function with his new name for New York’s Lake Ontario, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said Monday.
During an interview with Fox Business’s Mornings With Maria, Burgum said Trump reached out to Apple directly to request the update after the president signed an executive order renaming Lake Ontario, which lies in both the United States and Canada, to “Lake America.” Only the Lake Ontario name appeared on Apple’s platform as of Monday afternoon, although the label hovered above Canada’s water border.
“I know that the president reached out to Apple directly, so I’m sure that we may be seeing that change coming up soon to Lake America,” Burgum said.
Trump issued the order on Thursday as Canada and the U.S. escalated a burgeoning trade war, complete with tariffs.
The president’s order is binding only on the U.S. government, leaving private companies such as Apple the option of whether to leave the name as is or change it to Trump’s preference.
One of Apple’s chief competitors, Google, made the update over the weekend to Lake America “to reflect name changes in official government sources,” the company said in a statement Sunday.
“These updates follow our long-standing policy for bodies of water with names that vary from country to country,” Google’s statement said.
TRUMP SIGNED AN ORDER TO RENAME LAKE ONTARIO TO LAKE AMERICA — WHAT TO KNOW
Apple Maps has been slower than Google in the past to make similar changes triggered by Trump’s decrees, including when he renamed the Gulf of Mexico to Gulf of America and Mount Denali to Mount McKinley.
The Washington Examiner reached out to Apple for comment.