Governments President
Claudia Sheinbaum of Mexico said that her country and the rest of the world would continue to refer to the Gulf of Mexico by its longstanding name. The
Cuban government reportedly rejected the unilateral renaming. In the United Kingdom, the
Permanent Committee on Geographical Names for British Official Use officially recommended Gulf of Mexico over "Gulf of America". The
government of the United Kingdom reportedly has no plans to change official maps unless there is a change in common usage. In Poland, the
Commission on Standardization of Geographical Names Outside the Republic of Poland () ruled that the name of the gulf in Polish would remain (literally "Mexican Gulf"). In Germany, the
Permanent Committee on Geographical Names issued guidance that German-language publications should use the forms and , noting that the names specified in the executive order are politically motivated. The Austrian Working Group for Cartographic Toponymy (, AKO), issued a concurring statement. In May 2025, the House of Representatives passed the Gulf of America Act, to codify the name "Gulf of America" in law, by a margin of 211 to 206. Representative
Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia had introduced the resolution in January ahead of the executive order. It is uncertain whether the Senate will take up the bill. Congressional Democrats, including Senator
Adam Schiff of California, had previously said that they are prioritizing other issues over President Trump's geographical renaming activities. Alaska officials opposed the order to rename Denali to Mount McKinley. On February 7, 2025, the
Alaska State Legislature passed a
joint resolution urging the federal government to retain Denali as the mountain's official federal designation. The
Alaska State Senate voted unanimously in favor of the resolution. On February 13, 2025, Alaska's U.S. senators,
Lisa Murkowski and
Dan Sullivan, both Republicans, co-sponsored legislation to officially redesignate the mountain as Denali. The
Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education approved a change to the state standard for social studies instruction to use "Gulf of America", starting in the 2025–2026 school year. The
Oklahoma State Board of Education approved an updated social studies standard that required the use of "Gulf of America" and "Mount McKinley", as well as mandating teaching of the Bible and
election denialism. Despite criticism from Democrats that Superintendent
Ryan Walters had politicized the process, the legislature took no action and the standards went into effect for the 2025–2026 school year. In Alabama, Governor
Kay Ivey has signed a law requiring all state and local government agencies, including schools and parks, to adopt "Gulf of America" in publications and communications and phase out use of "Gulf of Mexico". After Representative
David Standridge introduced the bill in 2025, state officials expressed concern that renaming the
Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act of 2006 could risk federal interference in millions of dollars of oil and gas revenues that the act directs to state programs. The bill was filibustered at the end of the legislative session but was introduced the following year, passing the
Alabama Senate on March 31, 2026. It takes effect October 1. Officials in several other Republican-led states moved to align state usage with the executive order: • Arkansas: Representative
Aaron Pilkington introduced a resolution requiring all state agencies to adopt "Gulf of America", but the
Arkansas House of Representatives voted down the resolution twice. • Arizona: The
Arizona State Legislature passed a bill by Representative
Teresa Martinez that would require K-12 public schools to teach "Gulf of America" as the name of the gulf. The bill was vetoed by Democratic Governor
Katie Hobbs. • Florida: Agriculture Commissioner
Wilton Simpson directed the
Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services to adopt "Gulf of America" in all the department's administrative rules and publications. Senator
Nick DiCeglie introduced a bill that would replace every occurrence of "Gulf of Mexico" in state law with "Gulf of America". In the past, the state legislature has uncontroversially passed "reviser's bills" to update statutory terminology. Senator
Joe Gruters introduced a bill that would require school boards to update any references to the gulf in educational materials and would also rename a portion of
U.S. Route 41 currently known as
Tamiami Trail to "Gulf of America Trail". However, on March 4, Gruters withdrew the proposal to rename the highway due to public criticism. The
Republican Party of Florida promoted the renaming on a series of electronic billboards on highways along the
Florida panhandle. • Iowa: A bill in the
Iowa House of Representatives would require schools to use "Gulf of America" and Mount McKinley in classroom instruction and on any handouts given to students. • Michigan: On May 7, 2025, Republicans in the state's
House of Representatives passed a resolution that urges but does not require all public bodies, agencies, and departments in the state to use "Gulf of America" instead of "Gulf of Mexico". Rep.
Matt Maddock initially put forth a bill to require state and local governments to make the change, but withdrew it due to a lack of support from House Democrats. • Mississippi: Governor
Tate Reeves said he would call it the "Gulf of America". • Tennessee: Senator
Bo Watson introduced a resolution that would encourage schoolteachers to use both "Gulf of America" and "Mount McKinley". • Texas: Representative
Briscoe Cain introduced a bill and joint resolution to change the gulf's name for state purposes, which would require an amendment to the
Constitution of Texas. In Russia, the executive order prompted Deputy
Denis Bulanov of the
Saratov Oblast Duma to propose renaming the
Black Sea to "Russian Sea" domestically. Governor
JB Pritzker of Illinois, a Democrat, released a video parodying the executive order by claiming to rename
Lake Michigan back to
Lake Illinois. Alluding to the renaming of the gulf, Lieutenant Governor
Dan Patrick of Texas announced a plan to rebrand
New York strip steak as "Texas strip". In New Jersey, State Senator
Mike Testa introduced a bill to require the state government to refer to
Delaware Bay as the "Bay of New Jersey".
News media On January 23, 2025, the
Associated Press (AP) announced that its wire reports would continue to refer to Gulf of Mexico while acknowledging "Gulf of America", but that they would begin referring to Mount McKinley instead of Denali. Maps and other graphics accompanying the reports would continue to label Gulf of Mexico for the time being. The
AP Stylebook, which is the journalistic writing standard for news organizations worldwide, also permits Gulf and Gulf Coast.
The New Yorker said they would follow AP guidance,
The Atlantic,
Bloomberg News,
HuffPost, the
Los Angeles Times,
The New York Times,
Reuters, and
The Washington Post stated that they would continue to refer to the gulf by its traditional name. Dissatisfied with the AP's decision, the
White House indefinitely barred AP reporters from attending press events in the
Oval Office or aboard
Air Force One until the agency agrees to use "Gulf of America" in its style guide. On February 21, 2025, the AP sued the White House in
Associated Press v. Budowich on constitutional grounds. The ban and
other conflicts with the press have led to calls for solidarity and
collective action among mainstream news organizations.
Clay Calvert of the
American Enterprise Institute juxtaposes the order and subsequent conflict with the AP against
Executive Order 14149, noting the irony of coercing the press while decrying the Biden administration's coercion.
Technology industry Some major American map services voluntarily relabeled the gulf.
Google added the United States and Mexico to an internal list of "sensitive" countries that require special consideration on maps, alongside China, Russia, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and others. On January 27, 2025, the company announced that
Google Maps and
Google Earth would relabel both the Gulf of Mexico and Denali as soon as GNIS was updated. The gulf would appear as "Gulf of America" to users in the U.S., as Gulf of Mexico to users in Mexico, and as both names to users elsewhere, based on the Internet connection location. Google implemented the Gulf of America and Mount McKinley labels in early February, immediately following updates to GNIS.
Apple Maps and
Bing Maps also updated references to "Gulf of America" and "Mount McKinley", following criticism from Republican officials. In Apple Maps, the gulf's label depends on the user's chosen
locale setting rather than their physical location.
Esri released a new series of basemaps for
ArcGIS that are designed for U.S. government customers, labeling both "Mount McKinley" and "Gulf of America" and depicting boundaries as recognized by the
U.S. State Department. The new basemaps will be shown to
ArcGIS Online visitors who are located in the U.S. or use a U.S. locale, while others will continue to see more neutral international basemaps.
MapQuest did not rename the gulf on their main map, citing their own obsolescence in self-deprecating social media posts, but instead published a tool that allows users to
personalize the gulf's label and share the resulting map on social media.
Yandex stated that
Yandex Maps would maintain the gulf's traditional name for its Russian-speaking users.
Huawei stated that
Petal Maps would maintain the traditional name as a competitive advantage against Google Maps. In February 2025, President
Claudia Sheinbaum of Mexico objected to Google's relabeling of the Gulf and had Foreign Secretary
Juan Ramón de la Fuente send Google a letter threatening a civil lawsuit if they did not restore Gulf of Mexico to their maps, arguing that their depiction contradicts international law. She stated that the
Legal Counsel of the Federal Executive was looking into the matter. The following month, her administration filed suit against Google's Mexican subsidiary before the Tenth Civil District Court in Mexico City (), seeking damages, restoration of the Gulf of Mexico label across the company's products, and a clarification that the name "Gulf of America" only applies to portions of the continental shelf under U.S. control. However, Judge Eduardo León Sandoval dismissed the lawsuit on jurisdictional and standing grounds. In May, Sheinbaum confirmed that her administration has sued Google and implied a favorable ruling.
Mark Monmonier, the author of
How to Lie with Maps, criticized Google's decision to acquiesce to what he described as President Trump's bullying.
John Gruber argues that large technology companies cannot realistically ignore the name "Gulf of America", comparing the label to the falsely enlarged
Diaoyu Islands that Chinese users see in Apple Maps due to government regulations, but he criticizes Apple and Google for erasing references to "Gulf of Mexico" and for not limiting the changes to U.S. users. Vandals targeted the
Mall of America in Minnesota and the
Voice of America Center and Voice of America MetroPark in Ohio, briefly renaming them after Mexico. In Germany, Google Maps users added a raft of fake names of bodies of water, including six gulfs in the
Bonn area alone, poking fun at the executive order, Google's compliance with it, and in some cases local crosstown rivalries. In June 2025, telecommunications company
Trump Mobile launched as an affiliate of
The Trump Organization. The
coverage map, borrowed from
Ultra Mobile, quickly gained attention for its unaltered Gulf of Mexico label before the firm replaced it with a custom map.
Publishing industry Among print publishers,
Rand McNally stated that they would wait for the Department of the Interior to conduct legal and public review, eventually changing the label to "Gulf of America (Gulf of Mexico)" in their 2027 road atlases of North America. Japanese map and textbook publisher Teikoku Shoin said they would maintain the name Gulf of Mexico for the 2025–2026 school year and would reassess afterwards. The
Encyclopædia Britannica renamed their entries for Denali and the Gulf of Mexico to "Mount McKinley" and the "Gulf of Mexico / Gulf of America", while keeping "Gulf of Mexico" for all references to the gulf in other entries, after stating that they would retain "Gulf of Mexico" for their mostly international audience. An online merchant quickly capitalized on the executive order, selling out of Gulf of America-branded globes, maps, and other merchandise. Iranian publisher Gitashenasi issued a
Persian language map of the United States that labels the gulf as both "Gulf of America" () and "Gulf of Mexico" (). Cultural institutions have expressed concern that recent changes by the
National Endowment for the Arts could jeopardize federal grants for works of literature that contradict the Trump administration's executive orders, including by referring to the Gulf of Mexico by its traditional name.
Petroleum industry BP and
Chevron, which have extensive leases in the gulf, have begun calling it the "Gulf of America", including retroactively, referring to the 2010
Deepwater Horizon oil spill as the "Gulf of America oil spill".
Tourism industry Tourism organizations in Alaska released statements opposing the renaming of Denali to Mount McKinley and committing to continue calling the mountain Denali. The
National Maritime Museum of the Gulf of Mexico in
Mobile, Alabama, has no immediate plans to change their name, which was designated by an act of Congress. The city-owned museum rebranded back to this name in April 2024 at a cost of nearly $100,000, and there is concern about the cost of overhauling the entire museum's exhibits, some of which focus on Mexico. At the time, the organization had at least $ in federal grants, including $ from the
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. == Legacy ==