NEW YORK — The Associated Press will keep calling one of the Great Lakes Lake Ontario, rejecting President Donald Trump’s push to rebrand it “Lake America” on U.S. maps, according to newsroom guidance shared Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2026.

Trump signed an Aug. 27 executive order directing the Interior Department to update the lake’s name in the U.S. geographic naming service amid a trade fight with Canada. The order governs federal terminology; it does not force Canada — or private newsrooms — to follow along.

“The Associated Press will refer to Lake Ontario by its original name, including the name Trump has chosen when relevant,” AP spokesman Patrick Maks said in a statement circulated with the guidance. “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 Hill and Mediaite both reported that AP’s internal guidance tells reporters the executive order only requires the U.S. government to use the new name, and that Canada and other countries have said they will not adopt it. AP reporters were given boilerplate language to explain the style call in stories that mention the rename.

Gulf of America déjà vu

The stance tracks AP’s earlier refusal to swap “Gulf of Mexico” for “Gulf of America,” a fight that helped trigger a White House ban on AP reporters and a drawn-out First Amendment case. An appeals court in June 2025 allowed that ban to continue, Mediaite noted.

AP has not been equally absolutist on every Trump rename. Its style guide adopted Mount McKinley over Denali for North America’s highest peak because, the wire argued, the mountain lies solely in the United States and the president can change federal geographic names inside the country. A shared U.S.–Canada lake is a different map.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford has already planted a flag: “It’s Lake Ontario to Canadians and the rest of the world. Now and forever,” he wrote online, according to AP reporting cited by Newser. Polling cited by Mediaite found only 14% of Americans approved of the Lake America change, with 63% opposed. Mapping apps split — Google Maps showed Lake America to U.S. users after the federal Geographic Names Information System updated, while MapQuest refused and briefly topped Apple’s App Store charts.

Presidents can rename federal labels. They cannot rename the planet. AP’s Wednesday guidance is a style memo, not a court ruling — but it is another reminder that executive orders do not automatically rewrite the language the rest of the world uses for shared geography.

Sources