Gulf of Mexico or America?

On January 20, 2025, President Donald J. Trump signed a bill to rename the “Gulf of Mexico” into the “Gulf of America.” February 9th, is now known as “Gulf of America Day”

The reason why President Donald J. Trump signed this bill was because he was “Restoring Names That Honor American Greatness” according to the White House Website Donald Trump stated, “I took this action in part because, as stated in that Order, “[t]he area formerly known as the Gulf of Mexico has long been an integral asset to our once burgeoning Nation and has remained an
indelible part of America.” This means he believed that the Gulf of Mexico was necessary to rename because it has become a forgotten property to America.

How did President Donald J. Trump get permission to change the name?

According to President Donald J. Trump, “I signed Executive Order 14172 (‘Restoring Names That Honor American Greatness’).  Among other actions, that Executive Order required the Secretary of the Interior, acting pursuant to 43 U.S.C. 364 through 364f, to ‘take all appropriate actions to rename as the ‘Gulf of America’ the U.S. Continental Shelf area bounded on the northeast, north, and northwest by the State of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida and extending to the seaward boundary with Mexico and Cuba in the area formerly named as the Gulf of Mexico.” This means that President Trump got permission from the “Secretary of the Interior” ,which has broad authority to manage federal lands, to change the name from Gulf of Mexico to Gulf of America.

Resources

https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/02/gulf-of-america-day-2025/#:~:text=Today%2C%20I%20am%20very%20honored,That%20Honor%20American%20Greatness%E2%80%9D).

https://www.forbes.com/sites/maryroeloffs/2025/01/21/trump-renaming-gulf-of-mexico-to-gulf-of-america-heres-what-he-can-and-cant-do/