Mexico has sued Google for displaying the Gulf of Mexico’s name as “Gulf of America” on Google Maps, after the United States moved to rename the region.
The Mexican government filed the lawsuit in a Mexican court in late March. U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order in January that would rename the gulf in U.S. government usage, with a resolution to rename the area also passing the House of Representatives this month.
“All that we want is for the decree that the United States government issued to be complied with,” said Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum at a press conference.
“The decree the United States government issued about the gulf gave the name ‘Gulf of America’ solely to the parts that correspond to the United States’ continental shelf, not to the entire gulf, because it would not have the authority to name the entire gulf.”
Mexico’s government has asked Google to use the label “Gulf of America” only for the regions of the gulf within U.S. territory, Sheinbaum said, and “Gulf of Mexico” for areas belonging to Mexico and Cuba.
Google currently labels the gulf as “Gulf of America” for U.S. users and “Gulf of Mexico” for Mexican users, while all other users see “Gulf of Mexico (Gulf of America)”.
Mexico’s foreign ministry previously told Google in February that Mexico would pursue legal action if Google did not reverse its decision, saying that relabelling the entire gulf would be beyond its authority.
Trump’s January executive order also renamed Denali, Alaska’s highest mountain, Mount McKinley in government usage. While officially known as Mount McKinley from 1917 to 2015, Denali is the name used by the indigenous Alaskan Koyukon people, and Alaska’s state government had been requesting that the mountain be legally renamed Denali since 1975.
Legislation to legally cement the Gulf of Mexico’s official name change has passed the U.S. House of Representatives, though the Senate has not said if it will hold a vote on the bill.
The Trump administration reportedly plans to begin officially referring to the Persian Gulf as the Arabian Gulf, with the change set to be announced during Trump’s visit to Saudi Arabia this week.
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