Trump renames Gulf of Mexico to 'Gulf of America' among 1st executive orders

Trump renames Gulf of Mexico to ‘Gulf of America’ among 1st executive orders

Among the many first government orders signed by President Donald Trump was an order to rename the Gulf of Mexico to the newly named “Gulf of America.”

“President Trump is bringing frequent sense to authorities and renewing the pillars of American civilization,” the newly inaugurated president’s government order stated.

Trump additionally referred to as for Alaska’s 20,000-foot mountain, Denali, to be reverted again to Mount McKinley, which was its identify earlier than former President Barack Obama had it modified in 2015.

Trump’s government order requires the U.S. secretary of the inside to alter the names on federal maps.

He has appointed former North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum for the place.

Throughout his January press convention at Mar-a-Lago, Trump declared he would change the identify, saying the gulf is at present run by cartels and that “it is ours.”

“We’ll be altering the identify of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America, which has a ravishing ring that covers lots of territory, the Gulf of America,” Trump stated on the time. “What a ravishing identify. And it is acceptable. It is acceptable. And Mexico has to cease permitting hundreds of thousands of individuals to pour into our nation.”

Presidents do have the authority to rename geographic areas and options, nevertheless it must be finished through government order.

President-elect Donald Trump speaks at a dinner on the Constructing Museum, Jan. 19, 2025, in Washington, as Melania Trump listens.

Evan Vucci/AP

The U.S. Board of Geographic Names usually has the jurisdiction for geographic names.

The Gulf of Mexico is likely one of the largest and most essential our bodies of water in North America. It is the ninth-largest physique of water on this planet and covers some 600,000 sq. miles.

Half of the U.S. petroleum refining and pure fuel processing capability is situated alongside the Gulf of Mexico, based on the Nationwide Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and it provides about 40% of the nation’s seafood, based on the Environmental Protection Fund.

Following Trump’s inauguration on Monday, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis issued an government order on winter climate within the state that already refers back to the gulf because the “Gulf of America.”

Whereas referring to a climate system that would affect the state starting Tuesday, DeSantis’ government order stated, “An space of low strain transferring throughout the Gulf of America, interacting with Arctic air, will carry widespread impactful winter climate to North Florida.”

“For us and the entire world, it’s nonetheless the Gulf of Mexico,” Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum stated Tuesday in a response to Trump’s varied decrees.