Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum on Monday (February 17, by local time), reiterated that the country was considering taking legal action over the ‘Gulf of America’ row. On Monday, during her weekly media briefing, Sheinbaum warned that Google had ‘no right’ to rename Mexico’s continental shelf.
“Google has no right to rename Mexico’s continental shelf, nor does it have any right to rename Cuba’s continental shelf, because the Gulf of Mexico is divided among the three countries,” she said.
“…Under no circumstances does Mexico accept the renaming of any geographic area that includes part of its national territory and that is under its jurisdiction…” she said further.
The debate over nomenclature erupted after US President Donald Trump renamed Gulf of Mexico to Gulf of America by an executive order soon after his inauguration on January 20. The gulf is globally recognised by the name ‘Gulf Of Mexico’.
Following Trump’s order, his administration promptly made changes in its records and Google followed after few days.
On February 10, 2025, Google said on its blog that it was changing the name of Gulf of Mexico in Google Maps. This change, said Google, was in accordance with its longstanding practice of adhering to names given officially by the government.
However, the same body of water will have three names and which one appears on your screen will depend on your location in the world.
If you are in the US, you will see the words ‘Gulf of America’.
If you are in Mexico, the map will read ‘Gulf of Mexico’.
And if you are anywhere else other than the two countries, you will see the gulf named as ‘Gulf of Mexico (Gulf of America)’.
