‘Gulf of America’ row escalates as Mexico vows to take Google to court

Mexico will sue Google if it insists on altering the name of the Gulf of Mexico to “Gulf of America” for Maps users in the United States, President Claudia Sheinbaum announced Monday.

She stated that her government has written again to the US company, explaining that President Donald Trump’s executive order only applies to the portion of the continental shelf owned by the United States.

“Google has no right to rename Mexico’s continental shelf, nor does it have any right to rename Cuba’s continental shelf, because the Gulf of Mexico is divided among the three countries,” Sheinbaum said at her daily news conference.

The letter informs Google that “under no circumstances does Mexico accept the renaming of any geographic area that includes part of its national territory and that is under its jurisdiction,” she said.

More from World

Google to open its first retail stores outside the US in India, close to finalising sites at Mumbai, Delhi DeepSeek to take on Google after disrupting OpenAI's ChatGPT, Gemini?

“We will wait for Google’s response and, if not, we will proceed in court,” Sheinbaum added.

Sheinbaum had announced on Friday that her government was considering legal action against Google, saying: “If necessary, we will file a civil suit.”

Shortly after his January 20 inauguration, Trump signed an executive order renaming the Gulf of Mexico.

In response, Sheinbaum joked about dubbing the United States “Mexican America,” referring to a map from before 1848, when the United States captured one-third of her nation.

Impact Shorts

More Shorts

‘The cries of this widow will echo’: In first public remarks, Erika Kirk warns Charlie’s killers they’ve ‘unleashed a fire’

Trump urges Nato to back sanctions on Russia, calls for 50–100% tariffs on China

According to Google, a division of the internet behemoth Alphabet, users of its Maps app in Mexico will still see the moniker “Gulf of Mexico,” while users in third countries would see both names.

Sheinbaum submitted a letter she said Google addressed to her Foreign Minister, Juan Ramon de la Fuente, outlining its position and proposing to engage in a “constructive dialogue” about the problem, including a possible face-to-face meeting.

It said the name change was “consistent with our normal operating procedure to reflect on our platforms geographic names prescribed by different authoritative, government sources, including reflecting where authoritative sources may differ.”

Apple has also renamed the body of water the “Gulf of America” for US users of its mapping application to comply with Trump’s order.