After President Donald Trump issued an executive order to change the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis quickly jumped on the idea. But actually making
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum joked that if Trump went ahead with the renaming, her country would rename North America “Mexican America.” On Tuesday, she toned it down: “For us and for the entire world it will continue to be called the Gulf of Mexico.”
After President Donald Trump on Monday issued an executive order to rename the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf America, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis jumped on the idea.
An area of ‘low pressure moving across the Gulf of America … will bring widespread impactful winter weather,” the order states.
In a Monday state executive order warning Floridians of a fast-approaching winter storm, the governor referred to the Gulf of Mexico, as it has been referred to for at least 353 years, as the “Gulf of America.” The usage made Florida the first state to fall in line with Trump’s plans to rename the ocean basin.
For nearly half a century, there’s been little thought about the name Congress gave to the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council — until now. On Monday, President Donald Trump signed an order to rename the waterbody to the “Gulf of America” on federal agency maps, contracts, and other documents and communications.
Among the first executive orders signed by President Donald Trump was an order to rename the Gulf of Mexico to the newly named "Gulf of America." "President Trump is bringing common sense to government and renewing the pillars of American civilization," the newly inaugurated president's executive order said.
Among the first executive orders signed by President Trump was an order to rename the Gulf of Mexico as the "Gulf of America."
Part of a legal description of a boundary line of Dixie County, for instance, says it goes “southerly down the thread of the main stream of said Suwannee River to the Gulf of Mexico; thence along said Gulf of Mexico, including the waters of said gulf within the jurisdiction of the State of Florida, to the mouth of the Steinhatchee River.”
The potential name change is more likely to spread confusion than awe — especially if the same body of water is called different names by different countries.
Florida lawmakers and DeSantis could have a way to update state laws to change references from the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America. The Legislature regularly passes what are known as "reviser's bills" that do such things as change terms in laws.