In one of his first acts as the 47th President of the United States, Donald Trump has officially renamed the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America. However, the move has sparked significant controversy and faces a major hurdle: international recognition.
Trump signed an executive order renaming the 617,800-square-mile body of water, calling it a step toward “renewing the pillars of American Civilization.” The order requires the U.S. Secretary of the Interior to update all official government systems within 30 days.
While the U.S. Coast Guard and Florida’s Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, have already adopted the new name, other countries are refusing to follow suit.
The United Kingdom, for instance, has stated it will not recognize the change until the term “Gulf of America” becomes widely used in the English language.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum also rejected the renaming, stating, “For us, it is still the Gulf of Mexico, and for the entire world, it is still the Gulf of Mexico.”
This isn’t Trump’s first controversial name change. He also reverted Alaska’s Denali mountain back to Mount McKinley, a move that undid a 2015 decision by former President Barack Obama to honor the indigenous Koyukon people.
As pressure mounts for tech giants like Google and Apple to update their maps, Trump’s renaming efforts highlight the challenges of unilaterally altering geographic names with deep historical and cultural significance.
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