By South China Morning Post | Created at 2025-01-30 18:21:46 | Updated at 2025-01-30 23:42:22
5 hours ago
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum on Thursday said Google is wrong to change the name of the Gulf of Mexico on its Google Maps platform after US President Donald Trump ordered the body of water be renamed the “Gulf of America”.
Sheinbaum presented a letter addressed to Google in which her government argues the US cannot unilaterally change the name of a body of water which it shares with Cuba and Mexico.
The move comes after Google said on Monday that Google Maps will change the name of the “Gulf of Mexico” to “Gulf of America” for US users once it is officially updated in the US Geographic Names System.
The change will be visible in the US, but the name will remain “Gulf of Mexico” in Mexico.
Outside the two countries, users will see both names on Google Maps.
Sheinbaum and Trump have sparred over the name change, with the Mexican president previously joking that if the countries were starting to rename things then perhaps North America should be called “Mexican America” after a map of the region from 1607.
