“I don’t think I could have done this in my first term. This is a much more powerful term. I can do stuff that’s unbelievable,” Trump said in Kentucky. “So, I put it in, I called Google, Google Maps. See, Google wouldn’t have taken my call in the first [term], now they kiss my a--.”
Trump went on to brag about changing the name of Lake Ontario to Lake America, an executive order that the president issued amid the ongoing trade war between the U.S. and Canada.
Google says it’s adhering to company policy
The president isn’t wrong about his ability to change geographical names. A quick Google search of the Gulf of America will show just that — the Gulf of America, but only for American users. Those who search for that term outside of the U.S. still see the Gulf of Mexico, and Google’s AI overview provides an explanation of the naming dispute.
Still, Google changed the name for American users just one week after Trump issued his executive order on Jan. 20, 2025 — the day of his inauguration. Google, which is owned by Alphabet, defended the move by saying it was in line with the company’s policy of following official government changes — not because of Trump’s powerful influence. It offered the same explanation after facing backlash for renaming Lake Ontario to Lake America.
This also isn’t the first time Trump has made comments about his influence over Google. On Oct. 10, the president jokingly told a crowd in Tennessee that he called Google to float the idea of naming an ocean after himself.
“How do you feel about the ‘Trump Ocean’ for the Atlantic or the Pacific? You know what they said? ‘We’ve had it. That’s enough. We’re not doing it anymore.’ I said ‘I agree.’ No, I was only kidding,” Trump told the crowd.
Google’s ties to Washington
Google may have a policy-specific explanation for the geographic name changes, but the company has been financially tied to Trump during his second term in office.
Google donated $1 million to Trump’s inauguration in 2025. According to Politico, the search platform donated just $285,000 to the 2016 and 2020 inaugurations. Alphabet has also donated $22 million to Trump’s White House ballroom renovations.
