Trump administration says Gulf of America name change now official

Published January 25,2025

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The Trump administration’s Interior Department stated on Friday it had formally modified the title of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America, and the Alaskan peak Denali to Mount McKinley.

U.S. President Donald Trump ordered the title modifications as a part of a flurry of govt actions hours after taking workplace on Monday, making good on a marketing campaign promise.

“As directed by the President, the Gulf of Mexico will now officially be known as the Gulf of America and North America’s highest peak will once again bear the name Mount McKinley,” the Interior Department stated in a press release.

Alaska’s towering peak had been known as Mount McKinley earlier than, in honor of former U.S. President William McKinley, however was renamed Denali – which means ‘tall’ within the Koyukon Indigenous language – in 1975 on the state’s request.

“These changes reaffirm the Nation’s commitment to preserving the extraordinary heritage of the United States and ensuring that future generations of Americans celebrate the legacy of its heroes and historic assets,” the division stated.

In his inaugural handle on Monday, Trump stated McKinley, a Republican who was president from 1897 to 1901, “made our country very rich through tariffs and through talent – he was a natural businessman.” McKinley was head of the U.S. in an expansionist period, gaining Hawaii, Guam, and Puerto Rico as territories. Hawaii later turned a U.S. state.

While Trump can direct the U.S. Geological Survey to vary the way it denotes the Gulf of Mexico, such a reputation change could be unlikely to be acknowledged internationally.

Mexico, which just like the U.S. has an extended shoreline circling the physique of water, has stated the Gulf of Mexico title is internationally acknowledged and has been used as a maritime navigational reference going again tons of of years.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum earlier this month jokingly advised North America, together with the United States, be renamed “Mexican America” – an historic title used on an early map of the area.