Associated Press will stick with Lake Ontario over Trump’s renamed ‘Lake America’

The Associated Press will continue to refer to Lake Ontario by its original name, despite President Trump’s push to rename the body of water “Lake America.”

The president signed an executive order last month directing the name change, marking the latest in his efforts to rename geographical places like the Gulf of Mexico. The order came amid his administration’s ongoing trade fight with Canada.

The AP has instructed its reporters to refer to the body of water as Lake Ontario and note the president’s new name if relevant to the story, according to guidance shared by the news organization on Wednesday.

AP reporters were provided a statement to include in their coverage to explain the outlet’s decision.

“The Associated Press will refer to Lake Ontario by its original name, including the name Trump has chosen when relevant,” the statement said. “As a global news agency that disseminates news around the world, the AP must ensure that place names and geography are recognizable to broad audiences.”

The AP noted in the guidance to its newsroom that Trump’s executive order only requires the U.S. government to refer to the lake by the new name and that Canada and other countries have publicly stated they will not adopt the new name.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney pushed back on the proposed name change, pointing to its Indigenous history in a social media post following the executive order’s enactment.

“We know that America is changing. Their trading relationships, their foreign policies, their national monuments, their hydronyms,” Carney wrote. “Canadians also know that naming reality means calling it Lake Ontario — then, now and always.”

Last year, the AP made a similar decision regarding the president’s push to rename the Gulf of Mexico as the “Gulf of America.” The White House responded by blocking AP reporters from attending events.

Popular apps Google Maps and Apple Maps changed their labels on the water body for U.S. users to comply with the president’s renaming push. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum told Fox News recently that Trump “reached out to Apple directly” to request the change.

MapQuest, which was one of the few map services to refuse the proposed change, said it saw a surge in downloads after the company announced it would keep the name as Lake Ontario. The app also previously refused the president’s push to rename the Gulf of Mexico.

“We took the same approach we did with the Gulf of Mexico: be part of the conversation, and give people an app that keeps the names they’re familiar with,” said Doug Berger, the app’s general manager, in a statement.