Mexico: OK, We'll Rename the Continent

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said Thursday that her government wouldn't rule out filing a civil lawsuit against Google if it maintains its stance of calling the stretch of sea between northeastern Mexico and the southeastern United States the "Gulf of America," per the AP. Sheinbaum, in her morning news conference, said US President Trump's decree to rename the area long known as the Gulf of Mexico is restricted to the "continental shelf of the United States" because Mexico still controls much of the Gulf. "We have sovereignty over our continental shelf," she said.

Sheinbaum said that despite the fact that her government sent a letter to Google saying that the company was "wrong" and that "the entire Gulf of Mexico cannot be called the Gulf of America," the company has insisted on maintaining the nomenclature. It was not immediately clear where such a suit would be filed. Google reported last month that it maintains a "long-standing practice of applying name changes when they have been updated in official government sources." As of Thursday, how the Gulf appeared on Google Maps was dependent on the user's location and other data. A user in the US sees "Gulf of America" while a user in Mexico sees "Gulf of Mexico." In many other countries it appears as "Gulf of Mexico (Gulf of America)."

Sheinbaum has repeatedly defended the name Gulf of Mexico, saying its use dates to 1607 and is recognized by the United Nations. She has also mentioned that, according to the constitution of Apatzingán, the antecedent to Mexico's first constitution, the North American territory was previously identified as "Mexican America." Sheinbaum has used the example to poke fun at Trump and underscore the international implications of changing the Gulf's name. In that sense, Sheinbaum said Thursday that the Mexican government would ask Google to make "Mexican America" pop up on the map when searched. The AP is using "Gulf of Mexico" but also acknowledging Trump's renaming of it. (The White House objects to the AP policy.)