Featured Image Credit: Gerardo Vieyra/NurPhoto via Getty Images
Topics: Politics, US News, Donald Trump, Google, Google Maps, Mexico
Jen Thomas
Topics: Politics, US News, Donald Trump, Google, Google Maps, Mexico
Many people made memes when President Donald Trump announced he was changing the name of the Gulf of Mexico to 'Gulf Of America' but now, the Mexican president is fighting back.
Claudia Sheinbaum, the president of Mexico, announced on Friday (May 9) that her administration is suing Google after they changed the Gulf of Mexico's name to the 'Gulf of America' on Google Maps.
Google also allegedly ignored Mexico's 'repeated requests' not to rename, the BBC reports.
Shortly into his second term of presidency, which began in January, Trump created an executive order for the US Government to rename the Gulf.
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President Sheinbaum told gathered press that she would be going ahead with the court case, but didn't give away any details.
"The lawsuit has already been filed," Sheinbaum said, but did not elaborate when or where it had been entered. "All we want is for the decree issued by the US government to be complied with.
"The US government only calls the portion of the US continental shelf the Gulf of America, not the entire gulf, because it wouldn’t have the authority to name the entire gulf."
The filing comes after Mexico's foreign relations ministry issued a plea to Google not to go ahead with the rebrand.
Cris Turner, Google's VP of government affairs and public policy, had previously written to Sheinbaum.
In the documents, shared by the Mexican president, the Google rep said Google will not be reversing the changes they have made.
For Google Maps users in the US, they see it marked as 'the Gulf of America', whereas viewers in Mexico still see it as 'the Gulf of Mexico'. Everyone else in the world sees it as 'The Gulf of Mexico (Gulf of America)'.
The Google VP has defended the changes, writing that by updating the description, Google is sticking to 'longstanding maps policies impartially and consistently across all regions'.
The Associated Press had access to the White House revoked after refusing to alter the Gulf's name in its stylebook, and Trump is ignoring federal court orders to reinstate them.
Google has not responded to Sheinbaum's announcement of court action.
UNILAD has contacted Google for comment.
The name change was made not long after the executive order was signed, and Trump is still continuing to refer to and back the change, despite the pushback from Mexico's ministries.
The order only has power in the US and Mexico, and other countries aren't required to accept or even acknowledge it and can continue to refer to it as the Gulf of Mexico if they wish.
According to a State Department report from the 1970s, the boundary between the United States and Mexico starts in the mouth of the Rio Grande and follows a set line.
In face, on Thursday the House of Representatives passed a bill, which is successful will enshrine the name change into law and instruct federal agencies to update their maps accordingly.
The bill was pushed through after almost all Republicans voted for it, but it is not expected to pass the required 60-vote filibuster threshold in the Senate.
Sheinbaum has previously hit back at Trump's renaming demand, with her suggesting that the United States be renamed 'América Mexicana' or 'Mexican America'.
She gestured to an 1814 founding document which referred to it that way, before adding sarcastically: "That sounds nice, no?"