MEXICAN PRESIDENT CRITICIZES GOOGLE FOR APPROVING GULF OF MEXICO NAME CHANGE. (PHOTO).

 Mexican President Criticizes Google for Approving Gulf of Mexico Name Change

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum on Thursday condemned Google’s decision to rename the Gulf of Mexico on its Google Maps platform following an order by U.S. President Donald Trump to change it to the “Gulf of America.”

Presenting a letter addressed to Google, Sheinbaum asserted that the United States cannot unilaterally rename a body of water it shares with Mexico and Cuba.

This follows Google’s announcement on Monday that the name change will take effect for U.S. users once it is officially updated in the U.S. Geographic Names System. However, while Google Maps will display “Gulf of America” within the United States, it will retain “Gulf of Mexico” in Mexico. Users outside both countries will see both names on the platform.

Coretvnews recalls that Sheinbaum and Trump have previously clashed over the issue. The Mexican president once joked that if renaming places were an option, North America could be called “Mexican America” based on a 1607 map of the region.

Mexico insists that the U.S. lacks the legal authority to rename the Gulf, citing the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, which states that a country’s sovereign territory extends only 12 nautical miles from its coastline.

“The name change would only apply within the 12-nautical-mile zone off the U.S. coast,” Sheinbaum emphasized.

She also reiterated Mexico’s request for Google to prominently display a map of “Mexican America.”