Bristling at the name change on maps to Gulf of America following Donald Trump’s executive order, Mexico says it might sue Google.
Mexico will not rule out filing a lawsuit against Google if it continues to call the sea between the northeast of the country and the southeastern United States the “Gulf of America”.
The area has long been named the Gulf of Mexico across the world but US President Donald Trump declared he would change the Gulf’s name after taking office in January.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said on Thursday that the president’s decree is restricted to the “continental shelf of the United States” because Mexico still controls much of the Gulf.
“We have sovereignty over our continental shelf,” she said.
It was not immediately clear where a potential lawsuit would be filed.
Applying name changes from ‘official government sources’
Google reported last month on its X account, formerly Twitter, that it maintains a “long-standing practice of applying name changes when they have been updated in official government sources”.
As of Thursday, how the Gulf appeared on Google Maps was dependent on the user’s location and other data.
If the user is in the United States, the body of water appeared as the Gulf of America. If the user was physically in Mexico, it would appear as the Gulf of Mexico.
In many other countries across the world it appears as “Gulf of Mexico (Gulf of America)”.
Sheinbaum has repeatedly defended the name Gulf of Mexico, saying its use dates to 1607 and is recognised by the United Nations.
This is not the first time Mexicans and Americans have disagreed on the names of key geographic areas, such as the border river between Texas and the Mexican states of Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo León, and Tamaulipas. Mexico calls it Rio Bravo; in the United States, it is the Rio Grande.
The White House barred Associated Press reporters from several events this week, including some in the Oval Office, saying it was because of the news agency’s policy on the name.
AP is using “Gulf of Mexico” but also acknowledging Trump’s renaming of the body of water to ensure that names of geographical features are recognisable around the world.