Donald Trump's 'Gulf of America' change gets Google hit with a major legal threat

Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum has threatened Google with legal action after it changed the name of the Gulf of Mexico to “Gulf of America” under Donald Trump’s orders.

Earlier this month, Google Maps renamed the body of water between America and Mexico to the “Gulf of America” as part of an executive order from US President Trump to “honor American greatness”.

While many have questioned how the name change is helping American citizens with things that matter to them, like the price of groceries, it has also angered the country of Mexico, who last week, sent a letter to Google requesting it change the name back.

On Monday, Mexico said it is awaiting a response from tech company Google to a request it has made to fully restore the name Gulf of Mexico to its maps, or face legal action.

Currently, Google Maps users in the US see the body of water named as the “Gulf of America”. For users in Mexico, it remains as the Gulf of Mexico, while for users elsewhere, the name appears as, “Gulf of Mexico (Gulf of America)”.

“We will wait for Google’s response and if not, we will proceed to court,” Sheinbaum said during a press briefing on Monday (17 February), where she touched on the matter.

Sheinbaum also shared a letter the government had received from Cris Turner, Google’s vice president of government affairs and public policy.

In the letter, Turner explained the name change was simply implementing “longstanding maps policies impartially and consistently across all regions”. But, the company said it was willing to meet the Mexican government in person.

“While international treaties and conventions are not intended to regulate how private mapping providers represent geographic features, it is our consistent policy to consult multiple authoritative sources to provide the most up-to-date and accurate representation of the world,” Turner wrote.

The Mexican government has since written back, arguing that the name change “must be strictly limited to the marine area under U.S. jurisdiction”. Sheinbaum explained she is awaiting a follow-up response from Google before deciding whether to initiate legal action.

indy100 has reached out to Google for comment

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