Gulf of Mexico, Gulf of America
What to know
The Gulf of Mexico is a roughly 580,000 square-mile marginal sea bordered by the southern United States, Mexico, and Cuba. It feeds into the Atlantic Ocean, fuels massive weather events, and has been known by this name for roughly 400 years.
On January 20, 2025, President Donald Trump issued an executive order calling for the US Board on Geographic Names to relabel the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America. The order acknowledged that congressional action may be necessary to officially change site names.
Within days of the executive order, federal agencies, including the Department of the Interior, announced that they would begin using the term “Gulf of America.” By February, Apple, Google, Microsoft, and TomTom, some of the world’s largest private digital map and direction providers, changed their labels to “Gulf of America.” They often used this name on maps for US users and “The Gulf of Mexico,” or both names, for users outside the US.
The Associated Press (AP) said that it would continue to use “The Gulf of Mexico” while consistently noting the president’s efforts to change its name. (For example: “New oil wells will be sunk to increase oil production this year in the Gulf of Mexico, which Trump has sought to relabel the Gulf of America.”) The New York Times took a similar position. The Wall Street Journal continued to use the term “Gulf of Mexico” and put “Gulf of America” in quotes. The Washington Post also opted to use the original term. Some publications have said their work serves an international audience, making the clarity of a centuries-old global name preferable. Other news organizations have adopted the administration’s nomenclature, including Fox News, Breitbart, and Axios. The latter said most of its readers are in the United States.
In response to the AP’s stance on the term, the Trump administration banned AP reporters from the Oval Office and Air Force One. The Associated Press filed suit, lost, and was appealing (as of late 2025).
As of November 2025, the name change passed in the house and was pending in the Senate. Codifying it in federal law would make it harder to reverse if a new administration sought to do so. The 2025 yearbook of the International Hydrographic Organization references “The Gulf of Mexico” and not “The Gulf of America.”
The Trump administration framed the Gulf as helping to create well-paying jobs and produce energy through a strategy of “drill, baby drill” (though economists have countered that oil prices depend more on global supply-and-demand dynamics than US domestic positioning).
Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum said that Mexico and the rest of the world will continue to use the term “Gulf of Mexico.” In May 2025, Mexico announced it had filed suit against Google, challenging the company’s map changes. The US does not have the right to relabel the Gulf outside of US territory, Sheinbaum said.
Key considerations for use
It can be useful to consider comparable cases where bodies of water are referred to with varying names. The marginal sea known in Iran and much of the world as the Persian Gulf is known in Saudi Arabia (and soon, possibly, the United States) as the Arabian Gulf. When communicating with an international audience, efforts are sometimes made to note this Gulf’s other name at least once. Google maps available in the United States list both names. Doing so can enhance clarity and acknowledge the role that historical events and current political considerations play in the world around us.
Shifting from a name in global use for over four centuries to one created by US executive order in 2025 could produce confusion. However, most US government-generated maps, charts, data, and information about economic and climate activity in the region will bear the name “Gulf of America” at least during the Trump administration. So the decision to use the “Gulf of Mexico” can also create confusion if not clarified with a note about efforts to relabel it the “Gulf of America.”
The Gulf is often referred to by people living along its coast on both sides of the US-Mexico border as “the Gulf of Mexico” on first reference in written text or formal communications and “the Gulf” on second reference or when speaking. Journalists have the option to adopt this practice and include, early on, a brief mention of the administration’s preferred label.
Some useful questions to consider: Which term is most neutral, clear, and well-known to my audience? What would my use of one term or the other convey? When citing sources, how can I understand and accurately describe the rationales for their labeling choices? Accuracy and context are always important, but when communicating about matters of public safety—such as an approaching hurricane—clarity is the top priority.
Additional resources
- Can Trump rename the Gulf of Mexico the “Gulf of America”? (The New York Times)
- Marginal seas and climate change (EBSCO)
Summary
The Gulf of Mexico is a roughly 580,000 square-mile marginal sea bordered by the southern United States, Mexico, and Cuba. It feeds into the Atlantic Ocean, fuels massive weather events, and has been known by this name for roughly 400 years. A 2025 executive order called for the US Board on Geographic Names to relabel it the Gulf of America. Some useful questions for journalists to consider: Which term is most neutral, clear, and well-known to my audience? What would my use of one term or the other convey? When citing sources, how can I understand and accurately describe the rationales for their labeling choices?
Related terms