Among the first actions President Donald Trump said he will take is signing an executive order to rename the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America.
The announcement follows through on a promise Trump made from his estate in Palm Beach County earlier in January.
The new 47th president of the United States also said he wanted to make another name change: changing the name of Alaska’s Mount Denali to Mount McKinley.
Here’s what to know.
Trump directs US maps to change name from Gulf of Mexico to Gulf of America
Trump said during his inauguration address, minutes after being sworn in, he would sign an executive order to rename the Gulf of Mexico to Gulf of America.
The executive order would direct the secretary of the interior to change the name to “Gulf of America” for use on official maps and throughout the federal government.
The announcement about the name change also was announced by incoming Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt on X, formerly known as Twitter, Monday morning.
Why does Trump want to rename the Gulf of Mexico?
Trump said Jan. 7 at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida he wanted to make the name 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.
“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. It’s appropriate,” Trump said.
Trump announces Mount Denali to be changed to Mount McKinley
The Alaskan government had long recognized the mountain as Mount Denali, the name used by Alaska Natives, and President Barack Obama renamed it at the federal level in 2015. Trump’s action will revert to the pre-Obama name.
Where is the Gulf of Mexico?
The Gulf is Mexico is located in the southeastern United States. It’s bordered by the United States to the north, six Mexican states to the west and Cuba to the southeast.
According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service it measures approximately 994 miles from east to west and 559 miles from north to south.
States surrounding the gulf include:
- Florida
- Alabama
- Mississippi
- Louisiana
- Texas
More than half of Florida’s coast borders the Gulf of Mexico.
Can Trump change the name of the Gulf of Mexico to Gulf of America?
Landmarks have been renamed before.
In 2015, former President Barack Obama approved the Department of the Interior’s order to rename Mount McKinley in Alaska to Denali, a local Athabascan name for the mountain that President McKinley never visited.
Trump said during in inauguration address he would return the name back to Mount McKinley.
While he might be able to change the name for all U.S. references, it would remain to be seen if Trump can get any other countries to go along with it.
Trump isn’t the first person to suggest changing the name.
In 2012, former U.S. Rep. D. Stephen Holland of Mississippi proposed a bill to change the name of the Gulf of Mexico to “Gulf of America.” But he meant it as a joke, to mock his Republican colleagues he said seemed to want to push anything or anyone Mexican out of the state.
Contributors: Erin Mansfield, USA Today; C.A. Bridges, USA Today Network, Florida
