President-elect Donald Trump announced plans to rename the Gulf of Mexico to “the Gulf of America” as part of his freewheeling, often wild speech at Mar-a-Lago on Tuesday.
“We’re going to be changing the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America,” Trump said. “What a beautiful name. And it’s appropriate. It’s appropriate. And Mexico has to stop allowing millions of people to pour into our country.”
Trump’s proposal has already picked-up steam among his most faithful allies in Washington, D.C. At some point during Trump’s hourlong speech, Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene announced that she’ll introduce a bill to officially rename the Gulf of Mexico.
“President Trump’s second term is off to a GREAT start,” she posted to X.
Trump’s most recent comments about Mexico highlight his continued focus on the country as he prepares to begin his second term in the White House. By proposing a name change, in addition to harping on his vanity projects to acquire Canada, Greenland, and the Panama Canal, the president-elect seems to be reasserting his plans for U.S. sovereignty across the globe.
He wouldn’t be the first to toy with renaming the Gulf of Mexico, however. According to ABC Newsformer Mississippi state Rep. Steve Holland, a Democrat, proposed a bill in 2012 that would’ve renamed the gulf “the Gulf of America.”
Holland later admitted, however, that he was just kidding and introduced the legislation as a joke to mock his Republican colleagues for being anti-immigrant.
Trump, who is known for his racist and xenophobic remarks toward Mexicans, didn’t seem to be joking. This is despite the fact that the name “the Gulf of Mexico” actually predated the United States. As the St. Augustine Record noted, the name appears on maps as far back as the 16th century.
Trump’s comments made waves, in part, because he’s currently in an ongoing—and very public—rift with Mexico’s leadership including its president, Claudia Sheinbaum. Despite the two sharing a “wonderful” phone call in late November, they previously butted heads after Trump falsely claimed that Sheinbaum promised to close her country’s northern border with the United States. (Sheinbaum has not publicly responded to Trump’s latest remarks.)
Indeed, any goodwill between Trump and Sheinbaum might be lost after Tuesday’s speech. In the same tirade, he denounced Mexico as a “very dangerous place.”
“We have a massive deficit with Mexico,” Trump said. “We help Mexico a lot. They’re essentially run by the cartels, can’t let that happen. Mexico’s really in trouble, a lot of trouble. Very dangerous place.”
Trump has complained about the nation’s trade deficit with both Mexico and China. During his most recent campaign run, he raised concerns about the issue and has since promised to levy tariffs across the board, including a 25% tariff on imports from Mexico.
Trump has a long history of making false, and oftentimes broad, pronouncements about Mexico’s management of its side of the border. But his comments disparaging Mexico on Tuesday were particularly notable, in part, because the Mar-a-Lago news conference was intended to share what was billed as good news.
Before going off-script, Trump announced a $20 billion investment in data centers in the U.S. by Emirati billionaire Hussain Sajwani.
