- President Donald Trump ordered the Gulf of Mexico to be renamed the Gulf of America.
- Google agreed to honor the name change, while Mexico pushes back.
- Experts say that the name change reflects much deeper problems and could have greater implications.
President Donald Trump’s decision to rename the Gulf of Mexico is more than just geographic nitpicking – this is a political decision that shows how he wants to be perceived by the world, say experts in international law and geography.
This decision could cause a headache for Google, who said that she would go with Trump’s renamed on his platform, and he has the potential to worsen American-mexic to the experts.
This also led to trouble for the Associated Press, which was excluded from the signing of Trump’s executive order on Tuesday after refusing to use the new name.
As for whether Trump can unilaterally change the name of the body of the water, the answer is yes – but only for the United States.
Can the United States rename a body of water?
In a sense, countries can call geographic characteristics everything they want in their own jurisdiction, said Ian Hurd, professor of political science at the Northwestern University who does research on international law.
“Countries name and rename the characteristics of their country as they wish, and rename it is quite common, especially when a new government wants to differentiate itself from past practices,” Hurd told Business Insider.
For example, he said, the Indian government has renamed many cities in the country to underline Hindu decolonization or nationalism, and many Russian places names changed throughout the 20th century.
When the name of a place is disputed, Google Maps often displays the two names to users outside the countries involved. Grace Eliza Goodwin / Google Maps
And outside of each country, “there is no formal body to decide on things called,” said Hurd.
There is an advisory body within the United Nations called the group of experts on geographic names which encourages international coordination and the normalization of cartographic names. But countries do not have to follow its recommendations.
While individual states can make their own decisions on what to call a place, that does not mean that they have the power to rename an international water body, said Matthew Zierler, professor of political science at the Michigan State University which studies foreign policy and the international law.
“So renamed Denali to McKinley is for the purpose of the United States, but the Gulf of Mexico is a different problem,” Zierler told BI. “Internationally, there have always been differences between countries on what to name specific water bodies, islands, etc.”
“The names reflect culture, history and identity, so that the disagreements between countries on what to refer to a place are real”, but the heart of the question, he said, “is political rather than legal”.
What name change means for Google
Following Trump’s executive order to rename the Gulf, Google agreed last week to implement the change. In an article on X, Google said it would start to change the names of the American users of its cards once it has officially entered the information on American geographic names System, stimulating the president of Mexico to postpone a letter to the company.
“We have a long -standing practice of application of name changes when they have been updated in official government sources,” said Google in its X Post.
The technology giant said in a follow -up commentary that “when official names vary between countries, cards users see their official local name” and the rest of the world sees the two names.
Although the name change was sent by the president’s decree, Google has no legal obligation to adopt this name of name, and no other private entity, Mark Lemley, a Stanford law professor, told Bi .
The Gulf of Mexico as it appears on Google Maps. Tayfun Coskun / Anadolu via Getty Images
“And indeed,” said Lemley, “if they should do so, they would be in a difficult position because other countries officially call him different things.”
Because Google is not required to follow the order of change of name of Trump, its decision to do so anyway is, in essence, a political expert, said experts.
“Google and other mapkakers do not focus on law. They want to stay in business and will tend to follow the orientation of the countries in which they operate,” said Zierler, adding that even if it can be confusing for some , “I think it is quite clear for the most part that the names are symbolic.”
Historically speaking, Google’s decision to respect Trump’s name is not unprecedented.
“Throughout history, cartographers have often served the interests of the powerful, so it is not surprising to see a business like Google follow suit with these name changes,” said Reuben Rose-Redwood, professor of geography and director of research on critical geographies The laboratory of the University of Victoria told Bi.
Google did not respond to a request for comments.
Implications for the United States and its relations with Mexico
Some legal experts have said that Trump’s decision to rename the Gulf of Mexico says a lot about how he wanted himself and the United States, being perceived by the world.
“Most of the name changes arise from cultural-war policy,” said Hurd to Bi. “Nationalist governments often project an image of power by giving names responsible for ideologically to the places. This seems to be the motivation for Trump’s claim to the” Gulf of America “.
And this can send an involuntary message to the world, Hurd added.
“The name change is often a sign of weakness by a leader rather than by force,” said Hurd. “This reveals their insecurity in their place in the world.”
And Trump’s order does not well reflect the state of American-mexical relations, nor on future relations of the countries, said Zierler.
“The potential for this to be a major dispute between the United States and Mexico is real,” Zierler said BI.
But the name of name itself, he said, “is secondary to other questions that the American president has with Mexico on immigration and trade”.
Mexico is concerned, like other countries, of “American unilateralism and push,” said Zierler, adding: “The denomination dispute is emblematic.”
Mexican president Claudia Sheinbaum is not delighted with the order of Trump to change the name of the Gulf of Mexico or Google’s decision to honor it.
Mexican president Claudia Sheinbaum wants the Gulf of Mexico to retain its name for several centuries. Alfredo Estrella / AFP via Getty Images
In a letter to Google presented on Thursday, Sheinbaum urged Google to reconsider the modification of the name of 400 years of the body of water on its cards, Reuters reported.
The name change “could only correspond to 12 marine kilometers from the Côtes du United States of America,” said Sheinbaum in Spanish by reading the letter during a morning press conference, according to Reuters.
Mexico claims that the United States is not legal right to change the name of the water body – which borders the United States, Mexico and Cuba – because the United Nations Convention on the Act of the Act requires that the territory of a country stretches only up to 12 naval miles from its coast, Reuters reported.
When Trump launched the name change before taking office last month, Sheinbaum replied by saying that some parts of North America should be renowned in Mexican America because a world map of 1607 named it as such.
“Why don’t we call it American Mexicana? It looks good, right?” She said during a press briefing at the time.
As for what Google’s first competitor will call the Gulf, Apple has not indicated if it will change the name of the Gulf on its own cards. The company did not immediately respond to a request for comments.
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