Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
Trump Says He Will Change the Name of the Gulf of Mexico
gvw_ap_news
By Associated Press
Published 3 months ago on
January 7, 2025

President-elect Donald Trump walks from the podium after a news conference at Mar-a-Lago, Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP/Evan Vucci)

Share

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

President-elect Donald Trump said Tuesday that he would move to try to rename the Gulf of Mexico to the “Gulf of America,” a name he said has a “beautiful ring to it.”

It’s his latest suggestion to redraw the map of the Western Hemisphere. Trump has repeatedly referred to Canada as the “51st State,” demanded that Denmark consider ceding Greenland, and called for Panama to return the Panama Canal.

Here’s a look at his comment and what goes into a name.

Why Is Trump Talking About Renaming the Gulf of Mexico?

Since his first run for the White House in 2016, Trump has repeatedly clashed with Mexico over a number of issues, including border security and the imposition of tariffs on imported goods. He vowed then to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border and make Mexico pay for it. The U.S. ultimately constructed or refurbished about 450 miles of wall during his first term.

The Gulf of Mexico is often referred to as the United States’ “Third Coast” due to its coastline across five southeastern states. Mexicans use a Spanish version of the same name for the gulf: “El Golfo de México.”

Americans and Mexicans diverge on what to call another key body of water, the river that forms the border between Texas and the Mexican states of Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo Leon and Tamaulipas. Americans call it the Rio Grande; Mexicans call it the Rio Bravo.

Can Trump Change the Name of the Gulf of Mexico?

Maybe, but it’s not a unilateral decision, and other countries don’t have to go along.

The International Hydrographic Organization — of which both the United States and Mexico are members — works to ensure all the world’s seas, oceans and navigable waters are surveyed and charted uniformly, and also names some of them. There are instances where countries refer to the same body of water or landmark by different names in their own documentation.

It can be easier when a landmark or body of water is within a country’s boundaries. In 2015, then-President Barack Obama approved an order from the Department of Interior to rename Mount McKinley — the highest peak in North America — to Denali, a move that Trump has also said he wants to reverse.

Just after Trump’s comments on Tuesday, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia said during an interview with podcaster Benny Johnson that she would direct her staff to draft legislation to change the name of the Gulf of Mexico, a move she said would take care of funding for new maps and administrative policy materials throughout the federal government.

How Did the Gulf of Mexico Get Its Name?

The body of water has been depicted with that name for more than four centuries, an original determination believed to have been taken from a Native American city of “Mexico.”

Has Renaming the Gulf of Mexico Come Up Before?

Yes. In 2012, a member of the Mississippi Legislature proposed a bill to rename portions of the gulf that touch that state’s beaches “Gulf of America,” a move the bill author later referred to as a “joke.” That bill, which was referred to a committee, did not pass.

Two years earlier, comedian Stephen Colbert had joked on his show that, following the massive Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, it should be renamed “Gulf of America” because, “We broke it, we bought it.”

Are There Other International Disputes Over the Names of Places?

There’s a long-running dispute over the name of the Sea of Japan among Japan, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, with South Korea arguing that the current name wasn’t commonly used until Korea was under Japanese rule. At an International Hydrographic Organization meeting in 2020, member states agreed on a plan to replace names with numerical identifiers and develop a new digital standard for modern geographic information systems.

The Persian Gulf has been widely known by that name since the 16th century, although usage of “Gulf” and “Arabian Gulf” is dominant in many countries in the Middle East. The government of Iran threatened to sue Google in 2012 over the company’s decision not to label the body of water at all on its maps.

There have been other conversations about bodies of water, including from Trump’s 2016 opponent. According to materials revealed by WikiLeaks in a hack of her campaign chairman’s personal account, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in 2013 told an audience that, by China’s logic that it claimed nearly the entirety of the South China Sea, then the U.S. after World War II could have labeled the Pacific Ocean the “American Sea.”

RELATED TOPICS:

DON'T MISS

What Are Fresno Real Estate Experts Predicting for 2025 and Beyond?

DON'T MISS

First California EV Mandates Hit Automakers This Year. Most Are Not Even Close

DON'T MISS

Kennedy Plans Studies to Look for Environmental Contributors to Autism

DON'T MISS

Southwest Airlines Sued Over Spilled Coffee on 4-Year-Old Boy: ‘It’s so Hot!’

DON'T MISS

Israel Will Keep Gaza Buffer Zone, Minister Says, as Truce Bid Stalls

DON'T MISS

Judge Finds Probable Cause to Hold Trump Admin in Contempt for Violating Deportation Order

DON'T MISS

Wall Street Tumbles, Nvidia Slumps After New US Chip Export Controls

DON'T MISS

US Sues Maine Over Trump Executive Order on Transgender Athletes

DON'T MISS

Valley Crime Stoppers’ Most Wanted Person of the Day: Jennifer Michelle King

DON'T MISS

Butler, Curry Lead Warriors Past Grizzlies to Secure Seventh Seed in West Playoffs

DON'T MISS

Harper and Realmuto Homer to Help Lead the Phillies to a Win Over the Giants

DON'T MISS

Will Smith’s 3-Run Homer Sends Dodgers Over Major League-Worst Rockies

UP NEXT

Southwest Airlines Sued Over Spilled Coffee on 4-Year-Old Boy: ‘It’s so Hot!’

UP NEXT

Israel Will Keep Gaza Buffer Zone, Minister Says, as Truce Bid Stalls

UP NEXT

Judge Finds Probable Cause to Hold Trump Admin in Contempt for Violating Deportation Order

UP NEXT

Wall Street Tumbles, Nvidia Slumps After New US Chip Export Controls

UP NEXT

US Sues Maine Over Trump Executive Order on Transgender Athletes

UP NEXT

Valley Crime Stoppers’ Most Wanted Person of the Day: Jennifer Michelle King

UP NEXT

Butler, Curry Lead Warriors Past Grizzlies to Secure Seventh Seed in West Playoffs

UP NEXT

Harper and Realmuto Homer to Help Lead the Phillies to a Win Over the Giants

UP NEXT

Will Smith’s 3-Run Homer Sends Dodgers Over Major League-Worst Rockies

UP NEXT

California Is Preparing to Take Trump to Court to Stop His Tariffs

Judge Finds Probable Cause to Hold Trump Admin in Contempt for Violating Deportation Order

40 minutes ago

Wall Street Tumbles, Nvidia Slumps After New US Chip Export Controls

43 minutes ago

US Sues Maine Over Trump Executive Order on Transgender Athletes

1 hour ago

Valley Crime Stoppers’ Most Wanted Person of the Day: Jennifer Michelle King

1 hour ago

Butler, Curry Lead Warriors Past Grizzlies to Secure Seventh Seed in West Playoffs

2 hours ago

Harper and Realmuto Homer to Help Lead the Phillies to a Win Over the Giants

2 hours ago

Will Smith’s 3-Run Homer Sends Dodgers Over Major League-Worst Rockies

2 hours ago

California Is Preparing to Take Trump to Court to Stop His Tariffs

2 hours ago

Tesla’s First-Quarter Registrations in California Fell 15%, Industry Data Shows

2 hours ago

Trump Admin Can’t End Billions in Grants for Climate-Friendly Projects, a Judge Says

2 hours ago

Kennedy Plans Studies to Look for Environmental Contributors to Autism

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced on Wednesday that he is planning new studies to identify ...

20 minutes ago

U.S. Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. discusses the findings of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) latest Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring (ADDM) Network survey, during a press conference at the Department of Health and Human Services in Washington, D.C., U.S., April 16, 2025. (REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz)
20 minutes ago

Kennedy Plans Studies to Look for Environmental Contributors to Autism

29 minutes ago

Southwest Airlines Sued Over Spilled Coffee on 4-Year-Old Boy: ‘It’s so Hot!’

Smoke rises from Gaza after an explosion, as seen from the Israeli side of the border, April 14, 2025. (REUTERS/Amir Cohen)
36 minutes ago

Israel Will Keep Gaza Buffer Zone, Minister Says, as Truce Bid Stalls

40 minutes ago

Judge Finds Probable Cause to Hold Trump Admin in Contempt for Violating Deportation Order

A trader works on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, U.S., April 15, 2025. (REUTERS File)
43 minutes ago

Wall Street Tumbles, Nvidia Slumps After New US Chip Export Controls

U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi attends a press conference, as she unveils actions against the state of Maine, which is locked in a dispute with the Trump administration over transgender policy, at the Justice Department in Washington, D.C., U.S., April 16, 2025. (REUTERS/Leah Millis)
1 hour ago

US Sues Maine Over Trump Executive Order on Transgender Athletes

Jennifer Michelle King is Valley Crime Stoppers' Most Wanted Person of the Day for April 16, 2025. (Valley Crimes Stoppers)
1 hour ago

Valley Crime Stoppers’ Most Wanted Person of the Day: Jennifer Michelle King

2 hours ago

Butler, Curry Lead Warriors Past Grizzlies to Secure Seventh Seed in West Playoffs

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Search

Send this to a friend