- Mexico might sue Google over the “Gulf of America” label on Google Maps.
- The label change follows Trump’s January 20 executive order to rename the Gulf of Mexico.
- Mexico’s president said the rename applies only to areas under US jurisdiction, not the whole Gulf.
Google could be facing a lawsuit from Mexico if it continues to show US-based users the label “Gulf of America” for the entire Gulf of Mexico, which touches the US, Mexico, and Cuba.
In a press conference on Monday, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said that Mexico will sue Google if the tech giant does not change the “Gulf of America” label to cover only the portion of the body of water under US jurisdiction.
She said that President Donald Trump’s January 20 executive order to rename the “Gulf of Mexico” to “Gulf of America” pertains only to its own continental shelf.
“We’re talking about 22 nautical miles, not the entire gulf,” Sheinbaum said, adding that Google is also changing the name of the continental shelves of Mexico and Cuba.
The Mexican government has been discussing this matter with Google since January. Sheinbaum shared her government’s response to Google’s most recent letter on its maps, saying that under no circumstances will Mexico accept the renaming of any geographical area that includes its national territory or that falls under its jurisdiction.
“Any reference to the ‘Gulf of America’ initiative on your Google Maps platform must be exclusively limited to the marine area under US jurisdiction,” the letter read. “Any extension beyond that zone exceeds the authority of any national government or private entity. Should that be the case, the Government of Mexico will take the appropriate legal actions as deemed necessary.”
Sheinbaum, who noted last week that a civil suit was possible, said Monday that the Mexican government would await Google’s response before proceeding with legal action.
Business Insider reached out to Google but has not yet received a response.
ROBERTO SCHMIDT/AFP via Getty Images
On January 7, in the lead-up to the inauguration of his second term, Trump stated his intention to rename the Gulf. “We’re going to be changing the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America,” he said. “What a beautiful name — and it’s appropriate.”
In response, Sheinbaum sarcastically remarked that North America should be called “América Mexicana” — “Mexican America” — because a 17th-century map labeled the continent as such.
Following Trump’s executive order to officially rename the body of water, both Google Maps and Apple Maps updated the Gulf of Mexico’s name to “Gulf of America” for people in the US. For users based outside of the US and Mexico, the body of water shows up as “Gulf of Mexico (Gulf of America).”
Michigan State University political science professor Matthew Zierler, who studies foreign policy and international law, previously told BI that countries don’t have the authority to rename an international body of water.
“Renaming Denali to McKinley is within the United States’ purview, but the Gulf of Mexico is a different issue,” he said.
In January, Sheinbaum sent a letter to Google pushing back against the naming decision.
The tech company responded with a letter, which Sheinbaum read aloud in the Monday press conference. The letter said that the company’s “consistent policy” is to “consult multiple authoritative sources to provide the most up-to-date and accurate representation of the world.”
The Google letter said that the change from “Gulf of Mexico” to “Gulf of America” for US-based users was made to reflect the update by the US Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). The letter also stated that Google Maps users in Mexico will continue to see “Gulf of Mexico” while people elsewhere in the world will be shown both names.
Sheinbaum did not say whether Mexico will be pursuing similar actions against Apple. At the time of publication, her office had not responded to a request for comment.
