Donald Trump spent much of his 2024 presidential campaign arguing that he would avoid getting the United States into foreign wars while claiming that his opponents would start World War III or otherwise imperial United States interests abroad.
Ever since Trump was elected, he’s gone in another direction, rhapsodizing about new foreign adventures. Not only has Trump revived his old idea of making Greenland part of the United States — even sending his son Don Jr. to the territory as something of a viceroy — but has begun speaking about making Canada the “51st state” and demanding that Panama return the Panama Canal. More recently, Trump has vowed to rename the Gulf of Mexico, making it the “Gulf of America” instead.
Does Trump have the power to do this? Per the Associated Press, the International Hydrographic Organization “works to ensure all the world’s seas, oceans, and navigable waters are surveyed and charted uniformly, and also names some of them.”
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), naturally, has already vowed to introduce legislation changing the Gulf’s name. The U.S. could change the name that it uses for the body of water, but other countries would not necessarily go along with it.
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Of course, these attempts to redraw the map of the Western Hemisphere are also subject to the opinion of the affected world leaders. The president of Denmark, just as during Trump’s first term, has rejected the idea of selling Greenland to the United States, while Panama’s government is not interested in giving back the Panama Canal.
And now, the president of Mexico has responded to the gulf name change proposal.
Wowww ‼️ Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum responds to Trump on his proposal to change the name of the Gulf of Mexico — and points to a 17th century map of greater México.
“We are going to call it América Mexicana. It sounds pretty, no?”
— David Adler (@davidrkadler) January 8, 2025
Per an AP story, President Claudia Sheinbaum joked that North America should take on the new “América Mexicana,” or “Mexican America,” while also noting the Gulf of Mexico has had its current name since the 17th century.
The Mexican president during Trump’s initital run, Enrique Pena Nieto, repeatedly rejected Trump’s assertion that Mexico would pay for Trump’s border wall, with an earlier Mexican president, Vicente Fox, rejecting the calls even more forcefully. Trump did end up having a constructive relationship with Sheinbaum’s immediate predecessor, Andrés Manuel López Obrador (known as AMLO) even though AMLO was a leftist.
At any rate, Trump likely will not have an easy time, if he does pursue a name change of the Gulf, alongside his other ambitions of territorial conquest.
Photo courtesy of Political Tribune media library.
