President-elect Donald Trump stirred up some attention on Tuesday by suggesting that the Gulf of Mexico be renamed the “Gulf of America,” calling it a name that has a “beautiful ring to it.” This is just the latest in a series of bold ideas from Trump about reshaping geography in the Western Hemisphere—he’s previously called Canada the “51st state,” floated the idea of Denmark handing over Greenland, and even suggested Panama should return the Panama Canal.
So, why is Trump talking about renaming the Gulf of Mexico?
Since his first presidential campaign in 2016, Trump has had a tense relationship with Mexico over issues like border security, tariffs, and immigration. His promise to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border—one that he claimed Mexico would pay for—was a key part of his agenda. During his first term, about 450 miles of new or refurbished border wall were completed.
The Gulf of Mexico is sometimes called the U.S.’s “Third Coast” because it stretches along five southeastern states. In Mexico, the gulf is referred to as “El Golfo de México.” Another notable example of differing names is the Rio Grande river, which forms the border between Texas and Mexico. While Americans call it the Rio Grande, Mexicans refer to it as the Rio Bravo.
Can Trump actually change the name?
Technically, it’s not a decision he can make on his own, and even if the U.S. goes along with it, Mexico doesn’t have to adopt the same name. The International Hydrographic Organization (IHO), which both countries belong to, is responsible for standardizing the names of seas, oceans, and navigable waters worldwide. So, the process of renaming a body of water is more complicated than just a presidential order.
For example, when President Obama approved renaming Mount McKinley (North America’s highest peak) to Denali in 2015, the change was largely domestic, and the state of Alaska had pushed for it. But renaming a body of water shared by two countries would be trickier.
Right after Trump’s comments, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene from Georgia said she would direct her staff to draft legislation to officially change the name of the Gulf of Mexico, which would include funding for new maps and updating government documents.
Has this idea come up before?
Actually, yes. Back in 2012, a Mississippi lawmaker proposed renaming the portion of the Gulf of Mexico that touches his state’s coastline to “Gulf of America.” The bill, which was more of a joke, didn’t go anywhere and was referred to a committee where it died. Two years earlier, Stephen Colbert also joked about renaming the gulf “Gulf of America” after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, saying, “We broke it, we bought it.”
