Trump says he wants to change Gulf of Mexico's name to "Gulf of America"
President-elect Donald Trump says he plans to change the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the "Gulf of America," calling the move "appropriate" and criticizing Mexico for the migrants crossing the U.S. southern border.
Trump made the comments during an open-ended Mar-a-Lago press conference during which he also didn't rule out using military or economic coercion to bring Greenland and the Panama Canal under U.S. control. He takes office in 13 days.
"We're going to be changing the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America, which has a beautiful ring," Trump said. "That covers a lot of territory, the Gulf of America. What a beautiful name. And it's appropriate. It's appropriate. And Mexico has to stop allowing millions of people to pour into our country."
Trump ally Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia said she would introduce legislation to that effect on Thursday morning.
"The American people are footing the bill to protect and secure the maritime waterways for commerce to be conducted. Our U.S. armed forces protect the area from any military threats from foreign countries," she said in a statement. "It's our gulf. The rightful name is the Gulf of America and it's what the entire world should refer to it as."
It's not immediately clear whether Trump has the authority to alter the name for U.S. use, although a push by both him and Republicans in Congress could change U.S. governmental references.
The gulf is an ocean basin and marginal sea off the Atlantic Ocean that spans thousands of miles along the U.S. and Mexico, as well as Cuba. Mexico and the U.S. share a nearly equal number of coastline miles along the gulf, although Mexico has about 60 miles more coastline along the gulf than does the U.S. Florida, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama all have gulf coastlines.
Within about half the gulf, the U.S. has sovereign rights for exploring, managing natural resources and jurisdiction, as international law allows, according to the National Centers for Environmental Information. That boundary is shown in the map above.
If Trump were to formally change U.S. references to the "Gulf of America," other nations would have no obligation to follow suit.
Trump says he will change the name of the Gulf of Mexico
President-elect Donald Trump said Tuesday that he would move to try to rename the Gulf of Mexico to the “Gulf of America,” a name he said has a “beautiful ring to it.”
It’s his latest suggestion to redraw the map of the Western Hemisphere. Trump has repeatedly referred to Canada as the “51st State,” demanded that Denmark consider ceding Greenland, and called for Panama to return the Panama Canal.
Here’s a look at his comment and what goes into a name.
Since his first run for the White House in 2016, Trump has repeatedly clashed with Mexico over a number of issues, including border security and the imposition of tariffs on imported goods. He vowed then to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border and make Mexico pay for it. The U.S. ultimately constructed or refurbished about 450 miles of wall during his first term.
The Gulf of Mexico is often referred to as the United States’ “Third Coast” due to its coastline across five southeastern states. Mexicans use a Spanish version of the same name for the gulf: “El Golfo de México.”
Americans and Mexicans diverge on what to call another key body of water, the river that forms the border between Texas and the Mexican states of Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo Leon and Tamaulipas. Americans call it the Rio Grande; Mexicans call it the Rio Bravo.
Maybe, but it’s not a unilateral decision, and other countries don’t have to go along.
The International Hydrographic Organization — of which both the United States and Mexico are members — works to ensure all the world’s seas, oceans and navigable waters are surveyed and charted uniformly, and also names some of them. There are instances where countries refer to the same body of water or landmark by different names in their own documentation.
It can be easier when a landmark or body of water is within a country’s boundaries. In 2015, then-President Barack Obama approved an order from the Department of Interior to rename Mount McKinley — the highest peak in North America — to Denali, a move that Trump has also said he wants to reverse.
Just after Trump’s comments on Tuesday, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia said during an interview with podcaster Benny Johnson that she would direct her staff to draft legislation to change the name of the Gulf of Mexico, a move she said would take care of funding for new maps and administrative policy materials throughout the federal government.
The body of water has been depicted with that name for more than four centuries, an original determination believed to have been taken from a Native American city of “Mexico.”
Yes. In 2012, a member of the Mississippi Legislature proposed a bill to rename portions of the gulf that touch that state’s beaches “Gulf of America,” a move the bill author later referred to as a “joke.” That bill, which was referred to a committee, did not pass.
Two years earlier, comedian Stephen Colbert had joked on his show that, following the massive Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, it should be renamed “Gulf of America” because, “We broke it, we bought it.”
There’s a long-running dispute over the name of the Sea of Japan among Japan, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, with South Korea arguing that the current name wasn’t commonly used until Korea was under Japanese rule. At an International Hydrographic Organization meeting in 2020, member states agreed on a plan to replace names with numerical identifiers and develop a new digital standard for modern geographic information systems.
The Persian Gulf has been widely known by that name since the 16th century, although usage of “Gulf” and “Arabian Gulf” is dominant in many countries in the Middle East. The government of Iran threatened to sue Google in 2012 over the company’s decision not to label the body of water at all on its maps.
There have been other conversations about bodies of water, including from Trump’s 2016 opponent. According to materials revealed by WikiLeaks in a hack of her campaign chairman’s personal account, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in 2013 told an audience that, by China’s logic that it claimed nearly the entirety of the South China Sea, then the U.S. after World War II could have labeled the Pacific Ocean the “American Sea.”
Kinnard reported from Chapin, South Carolina, and can be reached at http://x.com/MegKinnardAP.
Trump refuses to rule out use of military force to take control of Greenland and the Panama Canal
PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday said he would not rule out the use of military force to seize control of the Panama Canal and Greenland, as he declared U.S. control of both to be vital to American national security.
Speaking to reporters less than two weeks before he takes office on Jan. 20 and as a delegation of aides and advisers that includes Donald Trump Jr. is in Greenland, Trump left open the use of the American military to secure both territories. Trump’s intention marks a rejection of decades of U.S. policy that has prioritized self-determination over territorial expansion.
“I’m not going to commit to that,” Trump said, when asked if he would rule out the use of the military. “It might be that you’ll have to do something. The Panama Canal is vital to our country.” He added, “We need Greenland for national security purposes.”
Greenland, home to a large U.S. military base, is an autonomous territory of Denmark, a longtime U.S. ally and a founding member of NATO. Trump cast doubts on the legitimacy of Denmark’s claim to Greenland.
The Panama Canal has been solely controlled by the eponymous country for more than 25 years. The U.S. returned the Panama Canal Zone to the country in 1979 and ended its joint partnership in controlling the strategic waterway in 1999.
Addressing Trump’s comments in an interview with Danish broadcaster TV2, Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen called the United States Denmark’s “most important and closest ally,” and that she did not believe that the United States will use military or economic power to secure control over Greenland.
Frederiksen repeated that she welcomed the United States taking a greater interest in the Arctic region, but that it would “have to be done in a way that is respectful of the Greenlandic people,” she said.
“At the same time, it must be done in a way that allows Denmark and the United States to still cooperate in, among other things, NATO,” Frederiksen said.
Earlier, Trump posted a video of his private plane landing in Nuuk, the Arctic territory’s capital, in a landscape of snow-capped peaks and fjords.
“Don Jr. and my Reps landing in Greenland,” Trump wrote. “The reception has been great. They, and the Free World, need safety, security, strength, and PEACE! This is a deal that must happen. MAGA. MAKE GREENLAND GREAT AGAIN!”
In a statement, Greenland’s government said Donald Trump Jr.’s visit was taking place “as a private individual” and not as an official visit, and Greenlandic representatives would not meet with him.
Panamanian Foreign Minister Javier Martínez-Acha said his government hasn’t had formal contact with Trump or representatives of the incoming administration but reiterated previous comments from the country’s president, José Raúl Mulino, who said last month that the canal will remain in Panamanian hands.
“The sovereignty of our canal is not negotiable and is part of our history of struggle and an irreversible conquest,” Martínez-Acha said.
Trump, a Republican, has also floated having Canada join the United States as the 51st state. He said Tuesday that he would not use military force to invade the country, which is home to more than 40 million people and is a founding NATO partner.
Instead, he said, he would would rely on “economic force” as he cast the U.S. trade deficit with Canada — a natural resource-rich nation that provides the U.S. with commodities like crude oil and petroleum — as a subsidy that would be coming to an end.
Canadian leaders fired back after earlier dismissing Trump’s rhetoric as a joke.
“President-elect Trump’s comments show a complete lack of understanding of what makes Canada a strong country. Our economy is strong. Our people are strong. We will never back down in the face of threats,” Canadian Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly said in a post on X.
Justin Trudeau, the country’s outgoing prime minister, was even more blunt.
“There isn’t a snowball’s chance in hell that Canada would become part of the United States,” he wrote.
Promising a “Golden age of America,” Trump also said he would move to try to rename the Gulf of Mexico as the “Gulf of America,” saying that has a “beautiful ring to it.”
He also said he believes that NATO should dramatically increase its spending targets, with members of the trans-Atlantic alliance committing to spend at least 5% of their GDPs on defense spending, up from the current 2%.
In June, NATO announced a record 23 of its 32 member nations were on track to hit that target as Russia’s ongoing war in Ukraine has raised the threat of expanding conflict in Europe.
Trump also used his press conference to complain that President Joe Biden was undermining his transition to power a day after the incumbent moved to ban offshore energy drilling in most federal waters.
Biden, whose term expires in two weeks, used his authority under the federal Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act to protect offshore areas along the East and West coasts, the eastern Gulf of Mexico and portions of Alaska’s Northern Bering Sea from future oil and natural gas leasing. All told, about 625 million acres of federal waters were withdrawn from energy exploration by Biden in a move that may require an act of Congress to undo.
“I’m going to put it back on day one,” Trump told reporters. He pledged to take it to the courts “if we need to.”
Trump said Biden’s effort — part of a series of final actions in office by the Democrat’s administration — was undermining his plans for once he’s in office.
“You know, they told me that, we’re going to do everything possible to make this transition to the new administration very smooth,” Trump said. “It’s not smooth.”
But Biden’s team has extended access and courtesies to the Trump team that the Republican former president initially denied Biden after his 2020 election victory. Trump incoming chief of staff Susie Wiles told Axios in an interview published Monday that Biden chief of staff Jeff Zients “has been very helpful.”
In extended remarks, Trump also railed against the work of special counsel Jack Smith, who oversaw now-dropped prosecutions over his role in the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol and possession of classified documents after he left office in 2021. The Justice Department is expected to soon release a report from Smith summarizing his investigation after the criminal cases were forced to an end by Trump’s victory in November.
Associated Press writers David Keyton in Berlin, Robert Gillies in Toronto, Jill Colvin in New York and Juan Zamorano in Panama City contributed to this report.
‘Gulf Of America’: Trump Says He’ll Rename Gulf Of Mexico
President-elect Donald Trump said Tuesday he wants to change the name of the “Gulf of Mexico” to the “Gulf of America,” among a recent string of controversial suggestions to expand the U.S.’ global footprint.
Spanish explorer Sebastián de Ocampo in the early 1500s became the first European to discover the Gulf, according to the Texas State Historical Association, and it first appeared on maps as the “Gulf of Mexico” in the 1580s.
The announcement comes a day after Trump suggested the U.S. should buy Greenland, reprising a controversial idea he floated in 2019. His son, Donald Trump Jr., is visiting the island Tuesday for a day trip he said is dedicated to tourism. Greenlander and Danish officials have rejected the idea. Trump also facetiously suggested Monday Canada should become the “51st state,” and he’s more seriously suggested he will demand control of the Panama Canal, complaining that the Panamanian government charges the U.S. “highly unfair” fees for ships passing through the canal. Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino dismissed the suggestion.
Trump has feuded with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum after he threatened to impose a 25% tariff on Canada and Mexico in November. Sheinbaum, in a sharply worded letter to Trump responding to his tariff proposal, said “for every tariff, there will be a response in kind,” noting the potential economic consequences for U.S. auto manufacturers with presence in Mexico, according to multiple reports. “Migration and drug consumption in the United States cannot be addressed through threats or tariffs,” she wrote.
Why Does Trump Want To Buy Greenland? Here’s What To Know—As Don Jr. Arrives On Island. (Forbes)
Trump Says Canada Should Merge With U.S.—Trolling Trudeau As He Steps Down (Forbes)
Trump Says US Should Take Ownership Of Greenland And Threatens Panama Canal Takeover (Forbes)
Gulf of America? Trump says he'll change name of 'Gulf of Mexico'
WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald Trump said Tuesday that he plans to rename the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America.
"We're going to be changing the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America. Gulf of America -- what a beautiful name," he said at a news conference at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida. "And it's appropriate."
He did not specify when or how he intends to make the change, saying he would provide those details at a future date.
"We're going to change, because we do most of the work there, and it's ours," he said.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene said immediately afterward in a social media post that she would introduce a bill to officially change the name of the body of water, which runs from Mexico along the southern part of the United States.
A former Mississippi legislator proposed legislation in 2012 to change the name of the body of water to the Gulf of America for "official purposes within the state of Mississippi." He said the bill was meant in jest.
It was not immediately clear why Trump decided to propose to change the name now. He told reporters the Gulf of America "has a beautiful ring" to it and was an "appropriate" name for the basin that also touches Cuba.
He indicated that he wanted to make the change because of a trade imbalance with Mexico, illegal immigration into the U.S. at the southern border and concerns about drugs coming into the United States.
Donald Trump Says Gulf of Mexico Will Now Be Called 'Gulf of America.' Congress Is Already Prepping Legislation
President-elect Donald Trump is readying his plans for when he enters office on Jan. 20.
During a press conference on Tuesday, Jan. 7, the 78-year-old shared his plan for renaming the Gulf of Mexico.
“We’re going to be changing the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America,” Trump told reporters. “Which has a beautiful ring. That covers a lot of territory. The Gulf of America, what a beautiful name. And it’s appropriate. It’s appropriate.”
Trump, who is known for his strict stance on immigration, added, “And Mexico has to stop allowing millions of people to pour into our country.”
He also called Mexico a “very dangerous place,” claiming it is “essentially run by the cartels.”
Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene quickly confirmed on X that she is preparing legislation to make Trump’s wish a reality.
“I’ll be introducing legislation ASAP to officially change the name of the Gulf of Mexico to its rightful name, the Gulf of America!” Greene wrote alongside a video of Trump’s comments.
The Gulf of Mexico refers to the portion of the Atlantic Ocean bordered by U.S. states Florida, Louisiana, Alabama and Texas, as well as Mexico and Cuba.
As of 2024, Gulf of Mexico federal offshore oil production accounts for 14% of total U.S. crude oil production and federal offshore natural gas production in the Gulf accounts for 5% of total U.S. dry production, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
Ahead of his inauguration, Trump has spoken out multiple times, threatening to impose tariffs on both Mexico and the neighboring country of Canada.
Trump’s threat of a 25% increase in tariffs on Canadian goods has been credited as part of the reason Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced his plans to step down on Monday, Jan. 6, as soon as a replacement can be found.
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In response to Trudeau’s news, Trump sarcastically wrote on Truth Social, "Many people in Canada LOVE being the 51st State,” referencing his running bit that Canada should not be its own country.
"If Canada merged with the U.S., there would be no Tariffs, taxes would go way down, and they would be TOTALLY SECURE from the threat of the Russian and Chinese Ships that are constantly surrounding them," he continued. "Together, what a great Nation it would be!!!"
Trump addresses my top issues: Renaming Gulf of Mexico and invading Greenland | Opinion
As a devout supporter of Donald Trump and the MAGA movement, I voted for him because I knew he would address the issues that most impact my life.
I’m talking, of course, about militarily overtaking the largely inhospitable Danish territory of Greenland, renaming the Gulf of Mexico and outlawing windmills.
So you can imagine my delight when my hero, president-elect Trump, gave a press conference Tuesday and strongly addressed those crucial subjects, along with other things that matter deeply to REAL AMERICANS like me, including shower water pressure and making Canada part of the United States.
Refusing to rule out using the military to take control of Greenland, Trump, who I voted for because I knew he would keep us out of wars, said: “Well, we need Greenland for national security purposes. … People really don't even know if Denmark has any legal right to it. But if they do, they should give it up.”
YES! I was predominantly a one-issue voter, and that issue was the exorbitant cost of seal meat. By threatening our ally Denmark and using military force if necessary, the Trump administration can proudly claim Greenland as a U.S. territory, dramatically lowering the cost of seal meat for American consumers like myself. That will allow me and my fellow MAGA supporters to affordably make Suaasat, a Greenlandic soup, AS IS OUR RIGHT AS AMERICANS!
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Some voters were concerned about egg prices. TRUE PATRIOTS were concerned about seal-meat prices. And Trump is on the case.
The soon-to-be president also announced a change that has been talked about for years in the rural diners I frequent with my fellow forgotten American men and women.
"We're going to be changing the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America,” Trump said. “Gulf of America – what a beautiful name.”
SO BEAUTIFUL! And also, so directly impactful on the quality of my day-to-day life. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had to miss work because I was feeling down about having to give Mexico credit for that 218,0000-square-mile, semi-enclosed oceanic basin that I know was BUILT BY AMERICANS.
As Trump said Tuesday: “We're going to change, because we do most of the work there, and it's ours.”
Damn straight it’s ours! Are you going to tell me that 200 million years ago when the Pangea supercontinent was breaking up there weren’t big, strong American workers causing tectonic plates to shift and form our beautiful gulf? Liberals probably wrote that in our history books, but thanks to voters like me, Trump will set the record straight.
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The greatest president in history, speaking from his Mar-a-Lago resort, went on to bless us with this: “We’re going to try and have a policy where no windmills are being built.”
Praise the lord! I know some in the MAGA community are more concerned about the economy, immigration and making life terrible for transgender people, but many of us picked Trump again because we abso-freakin’-lutely despise windmills.
They are distracting and can easily be mistaken for giants, leading innocent Americans to tilt at them like the late, great Don Quixote used to do. (Hopefully, Trump will also soon announce that Don Quixote will be renamed “Don America.”)
Trump also addressed America’s shower-water-pressure crisis, saying: “When you buy a faucet, no water comes out because they want to preserve, even in areas that have so much water you don't know what to do, it's called rain, it comes down from heaven. No water comes out of the shower. It goes drip, drip, drip.”
Finally, we will have a president with the meteorological knowledge to identify that rain correctly comes from heaven. This is clearly the man best suited to handle America’s nuclear codes.
Speaking of which, Trump also said he’d use economic force to annex Canada as America’s 51st state and “get rid” of the border, which he called an “artificially drawn line.”
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Amen, sir. I voted for a man who believes borders are crucial, except for that one. Don't worry, Mexico, you'll be fine.
I can’t wait to watch President-elect Trump continue to make all his supporters’ dreams come true.
As long as those dreams involve whatever he happens to be talking about on any given day.
MAGA!
Follow USA TODAY columnist Rex Huppke on Bluesky at @rexhuppke.bsky.social and on Facebook at facebook.com/RexIsAJerk
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump wants to rename Gulf of Mexico. I'm all for it | Opinion
Trump says Canada will face ‘very serious tariffs’ — and Gulf of Mexico will be renamed ‘Gulf of America’
President-elect Donald Trump said Tuesday he plans to order “very serious tariffs” against Canada and Mexico — and vowed to rechristen the Gulf of Mexico as the “beautiful” Gulf of America.
Trump, 78, made the comments at a wide-ranging news conference at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Fla., as he prepares to return to the White House on Jan. 20.
“We’re going to be changing the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America, which has a beautiful ring. That covers a lot of territory, the Gulf of America. What a beautiful name and it’s appropriate,” Trump declared.
“Mexico has to stop allowing millions of people to pour into our country. They can stop them, and we’re going to put very serious tariffs on Mexico and Canada, because Canada, they come through Canada too, and the drugs that are coming through are at record numbers.”
Trump threatened 25% tariffs against Canada and Mexico shortly after winning the Nov. 5 election, citing illegal immigration and illicit fentanyl imports.
Some observers speculated that he was making the threat as a bargaining tactic, and the leaders of both countries quickly pledged to work with the incoming commander in chief.
Trump also has jokingly suggested that Canada become the 51st state, while more seriously pressing for the US to acquire Greenland from Denmark and suggesting the US may need to reassert control of the Panama Canal Zone — topics he also revisited in his remarks.
The president-elect clarified at one point that the US would only use “economic force” to annex Canada before speaking rapturously about the potential benefits of a North American union.
“Canada and the US, that would really be something,” Trump said. “You get rid of that artificially drawn line, and you take a look at what that looks like, and it would also be much better for national security.”
Elsewhere in his comments, the incoming president complained that America’s neighbor to the north “is subsidized to the tune of about $200 billion a year, plus other things. They don’t essentially have a military. They have a very small military. They rely on our military. It’s all fine, but they got to pay for that.”
“I have so many great friends,” Trump went on. “One of them is The Great One, [hockey player] Wayne Gretzky. I said, ‘Run for prime minister. You’ll win. It’ll take two seconds,’” the 45th president and 47th president-elect recounted.
“But he said, ‘Well, am I going to run for prime minister or governor?’”
One of Trump’s top allies in Congress, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), quickly tweeted her approval of the Gulf of Mexico name change.
“I’ll be introducing legislation ASAP to officially change the name of the Gulf of Mexico to its rightful name, the Gulf of America!” she wrote on X.
Retiring President Biden, meanwhile, tweeted his apparent disapproval of Trump’s commentary on Canada in a message praising outgoing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who announced Monday that he would resign after more than nine years in power.
“The last time I visited Ottawa, I said that the United States chooses to link our future with Canada because we know that we’ll find no better ally, no closer partner, and no steadier friend. The same can be said of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau,” Biden tweeted moments after Trump’s remarks.
Trudeau himself responded to Trump Tuesday afternoon, writing on X: “There isn’t a snowball’s chance in hell that Canada would become part of the United States. Workers and communities in both our countries benefit from being each other’s biggest trading and security partner.”
The president-elect spoke as his son, Donald Trump Jr., visited Greenland as part of his attempt to woo the island’s 56,000 residents to support a break with Denmark and join the United States.
Greenland has been part of Denmark since 1814 but has received greater autonomy in recent decades. In 2009, the island was granted self-rule, though its residents remain full citizens of the European nation.
“People really don’t even know if Denmark has any legal right to it, but if they do, they should give it up, because we need it for national security,” Trump said at the press conference.
“That’s for the free world. I’m talking about protecting the free world. You look at — you don’t even need binoculars. You look outside. You have China [sending] ships all over the place. You have Russian ships all over the place. We’re not letting that happen… The people are going to probably vote for independence or to come into the United States.”
Trump also declined to rule out using military or economic force to acquire Greenland and the US-built Panama Canal and threatened to “tariff Denmark at a very high level” if Copenhagen intervened, as the Danish government has repeatedly said the island is not for sale.
