Mexico threatens to sue Google over Gulf of Mexico name change
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum threatened to sue Google Thursday over its decision to update its maps platform to reflect President Trump’s decision to rename the Gulf of Mexico as the “Gulf of America.”
Sheinbaum argued at her daily press conference that Google is incorrect in renaming the entire body of water as the Gulf of America because Trump’s executive order only applies to the U.S. continental shelf.
She warned that the Mexican government may bring a civil suit against the tech giant if necessary.
“Who we have a dispute with is Google,” Sheinbaum said, according to a translation from Bloomberg. “If they keep insisting, we’ll consider a lawsuit.”
Google Maps announced Monday it had updated the name of the body of water to the Gulf of America for its U.S. users after the U.S. Geographic Names Information System made the change official.
Users in Mexico will continue to see the name as Gulf of Mexico, while those elsewhere in the world will see both names written as "Gulf of Mexico (Gulf of America)." Apple Maps and Bing Maps have also updated their systems to reflect the change.
Sheinbaum sent a letter to Google last month after it announced its plans to change the name of the body of water.
“To change the name of an international sea, it is not a country that changes it. It is an international organization that does this,” she said at the time, according to a translation by Al Jazeera.
Trump signed an executive order renaming the gulf on his first day in office. The Department of the Interior announced days later that "the Gulf of Mexico will now officially be known as the Gulf of America."
It noted that the U.S. Board on Geographic Names was working to update the name in the U.S. Geographic Names Information System. Shortly after, Google said it would make the change once it was officially updated in the database for geographic names.
The Encyclopedia Britannica said Wednesday it will continue to use the Gulf of Mexico, noting that the gulf "is an international body of water, and the U.S.'s authority to rename it is ambiguous."
It also emphasized that it serves an international audience and that the body of water has been referred to as the Gulf of Mexico for more than 425 years. The president of Mexico touted the move Thursday.
The Associated Press has similarly opted to call the Gulf of Mexico “by its original name while acknowledging the new name Trump has chosen.” The AP said its reporters had been barred from covering several events at the White House this week for refusing to “align its editorial standards” with the president's executive order.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt defended the decision Wednesday, saying, “We reserve the right to decide who gets to go into the Oval Office.”
“If we feel there are lies being pushed by outlets in this room, we are going to hold those lies accountable,” she added. “And it is a fact that the body of water off the coast of Louisiana is called the Gulf of America, and I’m not sure why news outlets don’t want to call it that but that is what it is.”
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