Mexico threatens to sue Google over name change of Gulf of Mexico on US maps

Mexico will take Google to court if maps shown to US-based users continue to label the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America across the entire body of water, President Claudia Sheinbaum said Monday, arguing that US President Donald Trump’s order to rename it only applies to the part of the continental shelf under US control.

“What Google is doing here is changing the name of the continental shelf of Mexico and Cuba, which has nothing to do with Trump’s decree, which applied only to the US continental shelf,” Sheinbaum told reporters. “We do not agree with this, and the Foreign Minister has sent a new letter addressing the issue.”

Sheinbaum said the renaming is “incorrect,” adding that Trump’s decree “only changed the name within his own continental shelf, which extends 22 nautical miles from the US coast—not the entire Gulf.”

Last week, Google renamed the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America for US-based users of Google Maps, citing “a longstanding practice of applying name changes when they have been updated in official government sources.” People in Mexico continue to see the body of water listed as the Gulf of Mexico. All other countries see both names.

During the press conference, Sheinbaum read out a response from Google to a letter sent by Mexico to the company in January, contesting the tech giant’s decision to rename the area.

“As we first announced two weeks ago, and consistent with our product policies, we’ve begun rolling out changes in Google Maps. We would like to confirm that people using Maps in Mexico will continue to see ‘Gulf of Mexico,’” the letter from Google reiterated.

“People in the US will see ‘Gulf of America’. Everyone else will see both names,” the letter added.

Sheinbaum said Mexico is now sending a new letter back to Google, which reads “any reference to the ‘Gulf of America’ initiative on your Google Maps platform must be strictly limited to the marine area under U.S. jurisdiction.”

“Any extension beyond that zone exceeds the authority of any national government or private entity. Should that be the case, the Government of Mexico will take the appropriate legal actions as deemed necessary,” it added.

Sheinbaum noted that Mexico would wait for Google’s response before moving forward with legal action.

Sheinbaum first threatened to take Google to court last week, saying a civil suit could be on the table if the tech giant does not correct what she called an “inaccurate designation.”