Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has reached out to Google, urging the company not to follow President Donald Trump’s instruction to alter the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America in its mapping application.

During a press conference on Thursday, Sheinbaum presented the letter she sent to Google, explaining that the United States can’t independently rename the gulf because it is shared with Cuba and Mexico. She highlighted that the Mexican government cites the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, noting that a country’s jurisdiction only extends 12 nautical miles from the shore.

“If a country wishes to rename something in the ocean, it only applies within that 12 nautical mile limit. It cannot extend to the entire gulf. This is the detailed explanation we provided to Google,” Sheinbaum stated during the conference.

She also recalled a humorous remark she made previously, suggesting that if countries begin renaming locations, the U.S. might as well be called “Mexican America,” referencing a 1607 map of the continent. In her correspondence to Google, Sheinbaum requested that the term Mexican America be prominently featured in search results, along with the map she referenced.

“We request that when users search for Mexican America, our presented map be displayed,” she added.

Google has not yet responded to a request for comment from YSL News as of Friday morning.

Will Google rename the Gulf of Mexico?

This development follows Trump’s executive order signed last week, which mandates the federal government to refer to the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America in official maps. Google indicated on social media on Monday that it will implement the name change once it is reflected in official government documents.

Additionally, Google announced that it will revert to using the name Mount McKinley for the Alaskan mountain currently known as Denali, another renaming action taken by Trump.

“We’ve received several inquiries regarding naming conventions on Google Maps,” the company stated on X on Monday. “Our policy is to adopt name changes when they are reflected in official government databases.”

“This applies to geographic features in the U.S., specifically when the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) is updated,” Google clarified. “Upon that update, we will promptly revise Google Maps in the U.S. to reflect Mount McKinley and Gulf of America.”

“Furthermore, it’s our standard practice that when official names differ between nations, users will see the local official name,” the company added. “Everyone outside the U.S. will see both names, which is also applicable in this case.”

Contributors: Elizabeth Weise & Trevor Hughes, YSL News; Reuters

Gabe Hauari serves as a national trending news reporter at YSL News. You can follow him on X @GabeHauari