President-elect Donald Trump expressed on Tuesday his intention to attempt renaming the Gulf of Mexico to the “Gulf of America,” claiming that the name has a “beautiful ring to it.”
This suggestion is part of his ongoing efforts to reshape the geopolitical landscape of the Western Hemisphere. Throughout his political career, Trump has made various bold statements, including referring to Canada as the “51st State,” insisting that Denmark consider relinquishing Greenland, and proposing that Panama return control of the Panama Canal.
Trump’s recent comments regarding the Gulf raise questions about his motivations behind this potential name change. Since his presidential campaign in 2016, Trump’s interactions with Mexico have been contentious, focusing on issues like immigration enforcement and tariffs on imports. He famously pledged to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border, asserting that Mexico would finance its construction. During his presidency, the U.S. has managed to construct or rebuild about 450 miles of wall along the border.
The Gulf of Mexico is often considered the “Third Coast” of the United States, stretching along the coast of five states in the southeast. In Mexico, the name is translated into Spanish as “El Golfo de México.” Another prominent naming distinction exists for the river that forms the border between Texas and several Mexican states; Americans refer to it as the Rio Grande, while Mexicans call it the Rio Bravo.
As for whether Trump can alter the name of the Gulf of Mexico, it’s a complex issue. Such a change cannot be achieved unilaterally, and other nations are not obligated to accept the new designation. The International Hydrographic Organization (IHO), which both the U.S. and Mexico belong to, plays a key role in surveying and charting the world’s bodies of water. The IHO is also responsible for assigning names; however, discrepancies in naming can occur based on individual country documentation.
In 2015, former President Obama authorized the renaming of Mount McKinley, the highest peak in North America, to its original Native Alaskan name, Denali. Trump has since expressed his desire to revert that name. Shortly after Trump’s remarks on Tuesday, Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene from Georgia stated that she would instruct her staff to draft legislation aimed at renaming the Gulf of Mexico, emphasizing the necessity for funding to update maps and related federal documents.
The name “Gulf of Mexico” has been in use for over four centuries, originating from a Native American city named “Mexico.” This is not the first time there have been discussions surrounding such a name change; in 2012, a member of the Mississippi Legislature sought to rename parts of the gulf touching the state’s shoreline to “Gulf of America.” Ultimately, that proposal was later deemed a “joke” by its author and did not progress. Comedian Stephen Colbert also humorously suggested a similar name change on his show in 2010, following the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, claiming, “We broke it, we bought it.”
Globally, there have been other notable disputes over geographical names. A protracted disagreement exists regarding the name of the Sea of Japan among Japan, North Korea, South Korea, and Russia, with South Korea asserting that the current name gained popularity during Japanese colonial rule. At an IHO meeting in 2020, member countries agreed to pursue a plan that would replace contentious names with numerical designations and formulate a new digital standard for contemporary geographic information systems.
The Persian Gulf has retained its name since the 16th century; however, many Middle Eastern nations often refer to it as the “Arabian Gulf.” In 2012, Iran threatened legal action against Google for not labeling the body of water on its maps. Similar discussions have materialized concerning other bodies of water; former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, during a 2013 address, pointed out that if China’s claims to the South China Sea were valid, the U.S. might as well have called the Pacific Ocean the “American Sea” following World War II.
