Trump reaffirms commitment to ‘Gulf of America’ name change

On that flight, the president signed a proclamation declaring Feb. 9 as “Gulf of America Day” as he flew over the renamed body of water on his way to attend Super Bowl LIX in New Orleans.

“I took this action in part because, as stated in that Order, ‘[t]he area formerly known as the Gulf of Mexico has long been an integral asset to our once burgeoning Nation and has remained an indelible part of America,’” Trump said.  

On his first day in office, Trump issued an executive order that directed the secretary of the Interior to rename the body of water as the Gulf of America within 30 days.

That executive order said: “The Gulf will continue to play a pivotal role in shaping America's future and the global economy, and in recognition of this flourishing economic resource and its critical importance to our Nation's economy and its people, I am directing that it officially be renamed the Gulf of America.” 

The Gulf borders some 1,700 miles of US coastline spanning Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida, as well as parts of Cuba and Mexico. Its oil and gas reserves, fisheries, ports and tourism opportunities make it a valuable resource in many ways.

Questions about the name change persist

The executive order will dictate how the federal government refers to the body of water, and a number of offices within the federal government have begun to make the switch. 

But even as the federal government implements the switch, questions persist about how it will work and who must comply. Whether private institutions – such as mapping platforms, media outlets, educational companies, and offshore E&P companies – follow suit remains to be seen.

Some, like Google, have announced plans to start calling it the Gulf of America, at least in the United States. Others, like the Associated Press, plan to keep the original name. It is possible that some maps will eventually include both — as is the case for some other bodies of water around the world.

The US Department of the Interior has said that the US Board on Geographic Names will comply with Trump’s order. According to the order, the renaming process involves updating the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS), the official federal database of all US geographic names, to reflect the change and “remove all references to the Gulf of Mexico.” 

The order also instructs the US Board on Geographic Names — a federal agency within the Department of Interior that standardizes geographic names for government use — to ensure the change is reflected in agency maps, contracts, documents and communications.

“The US Board on Geographic Names, under the purview of the Department of the Interior, is working expeditiously to update the official federal nomenclature in the Geographic Names Information System to reflect these changes, effective immediately for federal use,” the DOI announced in late January. 

A number of institutions, organizations and public officials quickly adopted the new nomenclature. On Jan. 20, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis referred to the Gulf of Mexico as the “Gulf of America” in a state executive order describing a brewing winter storm heading for the Florida Panhandle. 

Also in January, the National Weather Service’s Storm Prediction Center began using “Gulf of America” in its public forecasts, though the “Gulf of Mexico” still appears in some places on the weather service’s website.

Chevron, a major player in Gulf E&P, used “Gulf of America” repeatedly in its quarterly earnings report released in late January following Trump’s executive order. 

Google made headlines by announcing it will update Google Maps as soon as the name is changed in official government sources, in accordance with its “longstanding practice.” The name change will only apply to users in the US, Google added. Users in Mexico will continue to see “Gulf of Mexico.”

How is Mexico responding?

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has issued a number of objections to Trump’s order. As reported by NPR, when Trump raised the idea in early January, Sheinbaum retorted that North America be renamed “América Mexicana,” or “Mexican America,” referencing a phrase from a 19th-century document.

“For us, it is still the Gulf of Mexico, and for the entire world, it is still the Gulf of Mexico,” she said, according to the Associated Press, adding that it has had that name since 1607. But she was quick to criticize Google in early February after the company announced its plans to conform with Trump’s order.

At a recent press conference, Sheinbaum showed reporters a copy of a letter she sent to Google in which she argued that the US cannot unilaterally rename the Gulf. She cited the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, which says a country’s territorial sovereignty only extends 12 nautical miles from its coastline.

“If a country wants to change the designation of something in the sea, it would only apply up to 12 nautical miles. It cannot apply to the rest, in this case, the Gulf of Mexico,” Sheinbaum said. “This is what we explained in detail to Google.” 

Other body of water disputes

The Gulf of Mexico is far from the only contentious body of water in the world. Several have different names in different countries, reflecting territorial disputes or broader geopolitical tensions.

One famous example is the body of water south of China, which much of the world calls the South China Sea. Neighboring Asian countries — who claim parts of it — use different terminology: China calls it the South Sea, Vietnam calls it the Eastern Sea and the Philippines has designated parts of it as the West Philippine Sea.

Another prominent example is the body of water that separates the Arabian Peninsula from Iran. It has long been known as the Persian Gulf and is still called that in much of the world. But Arab nations in the region call it the Arabian Gulf.

There is also a naming dispute over what is widely known as the Sea of Japan — but referred to as the East Sea by neighboring North and South Korea.