Mexico sues Google for renaming Gulf of Mexico after Trump’s executive order

Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum has announced 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 U.S. 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 United States, but still appears as “Gulf of Mexico” for users outside of the U.S.

Mexico says that if the U.S. is to adopt the term “Gulf of America,” the new name should only apply to the part of the gulf that sits over the U.S. continental shelf.  “The U.S. government only calls the portion of the U.S. 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 U.S. government to be complied with,” she added.

Earlier, Republicans in the U.S. 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 U.S. 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.