Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has written to Google urging the company to reconsider its decision to rename the Gulf of Mexico. The move follows an executive order signed by U.S. President Donald Trump during his first week in office, which mandates that the body of water—bordered by the U.S., Cuba, and Mexico—be called the “Gulf of America” on U.S. maps.
The new name will only appear on Google Maps for users in the U.S., while the rest of the world will continue using the Gulf’s traditional name, which has been in use for centuries. However, Mexico argues that the U.S. cannot legally rename the Gulf, citing the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, which asserts that a country’s sovereignty extends only 12 nautical miles from its coastline. Sheinbaum stated, “The name change could only apply within the 12 nautical miles off the U.S. coast.”
Google has yet to comment on the matter, but in a social media statement on Monday, the company said, “We have a longstanding practice of applying name changes when they have been updated in official government sources.” It also mentioned plans to rename Mount Denali as Mount McKinley in the U.S. in line with another directive from Trump. “When official names vary between countries, Maps users see their official local name,” the company added.
Sheinbaum criticized Google’s decision, arguing that the company should not comply with a single nation’s request to rename an internationally recognized sea. She also humorously suggested that Mexico might request other changes, including renaming the U.S. as “Mexican America.” She had previously joked that she might consider renaming North America as “América Mexicana” within Mexico.
“When Trump says he will call it the Gulf of America on the continental shelf, we still call it the Gulf of Mexico,” Sheinbaum remarked. “And for the entire world, it will remain the Gulf of Mexico.”
