Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum revealed on Friday that her government is initiating legal action against Google over the renaming of the Gulf of Mexico to “Gulf of America” for U.S. users, as reported by CBS News. This change was reflected in Google Maps following an order from President Trump at the start of his term in office.
Sheinbaum’s lawsuit follows through on her February warning that legal proceedings would be commenced if Google failed to revert the name change, which was only applied to areas outside of Mexico and the U.S. Within Mexico, the name remained as Gulf of Mexico, whereas elsewhere it appeared as “Gulf of Mexico (Gulf of America).” In a translated excerpt from Sheinbaum’s Friday briefing, she expressed her stance: “We simply seek adherence to the decree by the U.S. government,” mentioning that the U.S. lacks the jurisdiction to rename the whole Gulf, as it involves international territories.
President Sheinbaum continues:
The naming rights for any state, mountain, or lake within one’s own territory are not disputed; each country controls its own respective area. Consequently, Mexico’s portion cannot be renamed, nor can Cuba’s. Therefore, the message to Google is clear: adhere to what the U.S. government sanctioned without exceeding those bounds.
Prior to her briefing, Mexico sent letters to Google asking it not to label its territorial waters as Gulf of America, and Sheinbaum shared a reply from Google VP of government affairs and public policy Cris Turner stating the company had no plans to change its policy. CBS News notes that the US House passed a bill on Thursday that would codify the name change.
Google did not immediately respond to The Verge’s request for comment.
