Mexico's President Claudia Sheinbaum shows a 1661 world map showing the Americas and the Gulf of Mexico in response to Donald Trump's comments about renaming the Gulf of Mexico. (Reuters)
Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum announced Friday that her government filed a lawsuit against Google over its decision to rename the Gulf of Mexico as “Gulf of America” on its maps platform following US President Donald Trump’s executive order.
“The lawsuit has already been filed,” Sheinbaum said at her morning news conference.
The Gulf of Mexico currently appears as the “Gulf of America” on Google Maps for users within the US, but still appears as “Gulf of Mexico” for users outside of the US.
Mexico says that if the US is to adopt the term “Gulf of America,” the new name should only apply to the part of the gulf that sits over the US continental shelf.
“The US government only calls the portion of the US continental shelf the Gulf of America, not the entire gulf, because it wouldn’t have the authority to name the entire gulf,” the Mexican president said.
“All we want is for the decree issued by the US government to be complied with,” she added.
On Thursday, Republicans in the US took the first step to approve legislation to codify Donald Trump’s policy of renaming the body of water to the “Gulf of America.”
The bill is now headed to the US Senate, but stands low chances of attracting the Democratic support needed to pass the Senate.
The Mexican head of state had warned Google in February about bringing a civil suit against the tech giant if necessary.
Mexico’s foreign relations ministry had previously sent letters to the tech giant asking it not to use “Gulf of America” to refer to waters within its territory.
Google’s vice president of government affairs and public policy responded to Mexican authorities, saying it would not change its naming convention, and that the company was following its “longstanding maps policies impartially and consistently across all regions.”
Trump signed an executive order changing the name of the Gulf in January on his first day as the US president.
Furthermore, Trump has denied the Associated Press (AP) access to the Oval Office and Air Force One, despite a federal judge’s order to restore the news agency’s full access for covering presidential events.
The move comes as the AP insists on referring to the body of water as the Gulf of Mexico
The oceanic basin has carried the name “Gulf of Mexico” for more than 400 years.
The US has control over about 46 percent of the body of water, while Mexico controls about 49 percent and Cuba about 5 percent.
