Among the first actions President Donald Trump has announced is signing an executive order renaming the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America.
The announcement builds on a promise Trump made at his Palm Beach County mansion in early January.
The 47th new president of the United States also said he would like to make another name change: changing the name of Alaska’s Denali to Mount McKinley.
Here’s what you need to know:
President Trump orders U.S. map to be renamed from Gulf of Mexico to Gulf of America
In his inaugural address, President Trump said that minutes after taking the oath of office, he would sign an executive order changing the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America.
The executive order directed the Secretary of the Interior to change the name to “American Bay” for use on official maps and throughout the federal government.
The name change announcement was also made on X, formerly known as Twitter, on Monday morning by incoming press secretary Caroline Leavitt.
Why does President Trump want to rename the Gulf of Mexico?
President Trump spoke at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida on January 7, citing concerns about the trade imbalance with Mexico, illegal immigration into the United States at the southern border, and drugs flowing into the United States. He said he wanted to change his name to .
“We are going to change the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America. The Gulf of America has a beautiful ring that covers a vast territory.
“What a beautiful name. And it’s appropriate. It’s appropriate,” Trump said.
President Trump announces that Mt Denali will be renamed Mt McKinley
The Alaska state government has long known the mountain as Denali, the name used by Alaska Natives, and President Barack Obama renamed the mountain federally in 2015. President Trump’s action will revert to its pre-Obama name.
Where is the Gulf of Mexico?
The Gulf of Mexico is located in the southeastern United States. It borders the United States to the north, six Mexican states to the west, and Cuba to the southeast.
Its length is approximately 994 miles from east to west and 559 miles from north to south, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Countries surrounding the Gulf include:
Florida Alabama Mississippi Louisiana Texas
More than half of Florida’s coast is on the Gulf of Mexico.
Could President Trump rename the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America?
Landmark name was previously changed.
In 2015, former President Barack Obama approved an order from the Interior Department to change the name of Alaska’s Mount McKinley to Denali, the local Athabascan name for the mountain, which President McKinley never visited.
President Trump said in his inaugural address that he would change the name back to Mount McKinley.
It may be possible for President Trump to rename all references to the United States, but it remains to be seen whether other countries can agree to this.
Trump is not the first to propose a name change.
In 2012, former U.S. Representative Stephen Holland of Mississippi proposed a bill that would change the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the “Gulf of America.” But he meant it as a joke, deriding his Republican colleagues as wanting to kick Mexicans out of the state at all costs.
Contributor: Erin Mansfield, USA Today, CA Bridges, USA Today Network, Florida
