President Donald Trump announced plans to change the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America in his inauguration speech on Monday. This was just one of several executive orders promised by the president on his first day in office.
“A short time from now, we will be changing the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America,” President Trump said during his inauguration speech.
Trump says that he Will shortly rename the Gulf of Mexico as the “Gulf of America”.
Fact: This will cost America and American businesses tens of millions of dollars. pic.twitter.com/T5znlosB7b
— Brian Krassenstein (@krassenstein) January 20, 2025
Trump had previously stated his intention to rename the body of water in a press conference on Jan. 7. He also suggested he might pursue U.S. control into Greenland, the Panama Canal and Canada.
“We’re going to be changing the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America,” Trump told reporters. “What a beautiful name. And it’s appropriate. It’s appropriate. And Mexico has to stop allowing millions of people to pour into our country.”
Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum responded by saying that the body of water was internationally recognized as the Gulf of Mexico and that on historical maps, North America was labeled as Mexican America.
“I mean obviously ‘Gulf of Mexico,’ the name is recognized by the United Nations, an organism of the United Nations. But next, why don’t we call it ‘Mexican America’? It sounds nice, doesn’t it?” Sheinbaum said, pointing to a map from 1607 projected on a screen during her daily press conference on Jan. 8.
Republican representative from the state of Georgia Marjorie Taylor Greene directed her staff to draft legislation to make the name change so “Gulf of America” could be officially used on federal maps and administrative policy. While the new name could be used at the federal level, other countries would not need to accept it.
“It’s our gulf. The rightful name is the Gulf of America and it’s what the entire world should refer to it as,” Green said in a press statement.
Can the Gulf of Mexico’s name be changed by President Trump?
The Gulf of Mexico was first shown as the official name on maps used by 16th-century Spanish explorers, prior to the founding of the United States.
“The international maritime boundary in the Gulf of Mexico shall begin at the center of the mouth of the Rio Grande, wherever it may be located; from there it shall run in a straight line to a fixed point,” the U.S. State Department clarifies in a 1972 Maritime Boundary document.
The U.S. holds maritime jurisdiction over its part of the Gulf of Mexico and Mexico has jurisdiction over its portion.
Trump could potentially change the gulf’s name at the federal level as the rules for official geographical name changes are non-existent.
“Today, there is no formal international agreement or protocol in place for naming maritime areas,” the director of the International Hydrographic Organization John Nyberg told The New York Times.
However, the U.S. Board on Geographic Names states on its website that it only considers name changes for “compelling” reasons. “Generally,” it adds, “the most important policy regarding names is local use and acceptance.”
With reports from CBS News, The Hill, The New York Times and MVS Noticias
