Trump also renamed Denali, North America’s tallest peak, as Mount McKinley, despite objections from Alaska’s senators.
President Trump appears to have the executive authority to change the name that Americans use to denote the Gulf of Mexico, but other countries do not have to go along with it.
The Trump administration announced on Friday that it had fulfilled the president’s promises to rename the Gulf of Mexico as the “Gulf of America” and revert Denali, North America’s tallest peak, to its former name, Mount McKinley.
The administration has the authority to rename the Gulf as it is referred to within the United States. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has already adopted the new name, referencing the “Gulf of America” in a recent winter weather warning about a low-pressure system moving toward Florida.
However, other nations are not required to adopt the change. When President Trump initially proposed the renaming, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum jokingly suggested renaming America as “América Mexicana,” or Mexican America.
“The Gulf of America, previously known as the Gulf of Mexico, has been one of the most critical assets in our nation’s history and economy,” the Interior Department said in a statement on Friday.
The agency announced on Friday that the U.S. Board on Geographic Names, the federal body responsible for standardizing geographic names, is working “expeditiously” to implement President Trump’s directive to rename Alaska’s tallest peak after former President William McKinley.
The mountain was officially renamed Denali in 2015 by the Obama administration following decades of advocacy by Alaska Native groups and bipartisan lawmakers. On Friday, the Trump administration described the Obama-era decision as “an affront” to McKinley.
McKinley, an Ohio native, had no direct connection to Alaska and never visited the mountain. It was named in his honor by a gold prospector, with the name gaining prominence after McKinley became president and was later assassinated.
Republican Senators Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan of Alaska have voiced opposition to Trump’s renaming efforts. They argue that Denali is the rightful name, reflecting the 20,310-foot peak’s cultural and historical significance to the Koyukon people and other Alaska Native communities.
By law, proponents of name changes must present their case to the U.S. Board on Geographic Names, which includes representatives from various federal agencies. If the board fails to act within a “reasonable” timeframe, the interior secretary holds the authority to implement a name change.
In the case of Denali, Alaska tried for about 40 years to replace Mount McKinley with the Indigenous name before the Obama administration took action.
