President of Mexico Claudia Sheinbaum has argued the ‘entire world’ will still call the Gulf by its original name.
Within the first 24 hours of being sworn in as the President of the United States for the second time, Donald Trump wasted no time signing off on multiple executive orders.
By January 21, the White House’s website listed 25 executive orders including one about ‘restoring names that honor American greatness’.
Donald Trump’s executive order
The order argues that it’s ‘in the national interest to promote the extraordinary heritage of our Nation and ensure future generations of American citizens celebrate the legacy of our American heroes’, and so the naming of the US’ ‘national treasures, including breathtaking natural wonders and historic works of art, should honor the contributions of visionary and patriotic Americans in our Nation’s rich past’.
Two examples listed including the renaming of North America’s highest peak to ‘Mount McKinley’ to honor President McKinley.
And the second? Well, the Gulf of Mexico being renamed as ‘Gulf of America’.
The order notes the area as being ‘an integral asset to our once burgeoning Nation and has remained an indelible part of America’ and ‘a crucial artery for America’s early trade and global commerce’.
Reflecting on its ‘remarkable body of water’ alongside ‘natural resources and wildlife,’ it resolved:
“The Gulf will continue to play a pivotal role in shaping America’s future and the global economy, and in recognition of this flourishing economic resource and its critical importance to our Nation’s economy and its people,
I am directing that it officially be renamed the Gulf of America.”
And Mexico’s president Claudia Sheinbaum has since addressed the executive order, arguing Trump can call the Gulf whatever he likes, but it will ultimately always be known as the Gulf of Mexico to the rest of the world.
Mexico’s response to Donald Trump
Trump signed off on the Gulf of Mexico now being known as the Gulf of America (CHIP SOMODEVILLA/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
In a briefing on the morning of Tuesday (January 21), Sheinbaum said, as quoted by DW.com: “He says that he will call it the ‘Gulf of America’ on its continental shelf.
For us it is still the Gulf of Mexico and for the entire world it is still the Gulf of Mexico.”
Elsewhere in the speech, she noted it’s ‘important to always keep a cool head and refer to signed agreements, beyond actual speeches’.
She added: “Regarding the decrees that President Donald Trump signed yesterday, I would like to say the following: The people of Mexico can be sure that we will always defend our sovereignty and our independence.”