Mexico on Thursday threatened to sue Google over its changing the name of the Gulf of Mexico to “Gulf of America” for Maps users in the United States to comply with President Donald Trump’s executive order.
“We do have a dispute with Google at the moment,” President Claudia Sheinbaum said at her morning news conference. “And if necessary, we will file a civil suit.”
Trump signed executive orders renaming the Gulf of Mexico and reverting the name of North America’s highest peak, Denali, back to Mount McKinley soon after his January 20 inauguration.
Sheinbaum has cheekily suggested calling the United States “Mexican America,” pointing to a map from before one-third of her country was seized by the United States in 1848.
Google said that users of its Maps platform outside the United States would continue to see both the original and new name for the Gulf of Mexico, as is the case for other disputed locations.
“People using Maps in the US will see ‘Gulf of America,’ and people in Mexico will see ‘Gulf of Mexico.’ Everyone else will see both names,” the tech giant said in a blog post.
Trump’s name changes also sparked criticism from Indigenous groups in Alaska, who have long advocated for maintaining the Denali name.
