AP Issues New Style Guidance — Won’t Follow Trump’s Renaming of Gulf of Mexico

AP Photo/Matt Rourke

The Associated Press issued an updated style guidance in response to President Donald Trump’s inauguration day executive order that purported to rename two geographic landmarks, announcing a decision to cooperate with only one of them.

Among Trump’s first day flurry of executive orders was one that purported to rename the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America and to change the name of North America’s highest peak from Denali back to Mount McKinley, but the AP is only on board for the latter, citing the scope of U.S. presidential authority as the rationale behind how it would identify both places.

In a statement posted on its blog, the AP announced updates to the AP Stylebook, which is widely followed by media outlets around the globe.

“As a global news agency that disseminates news around the world, the AP must ensure that place names and geography are easily recognizable to all audiences,” the announcement stated. Accordingly, regarding Trump’s attempt to change the name of the body of water that borders Mexico and the Gulf states of Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas, the AP pointed out that the Gulf of Mexico “has carried that name for more than 400 years,” and the president’s order “only carries authority within the United States.”

“Mexico, as well as other countries and international bodies, do not have to recognize the name change,” the post continued. To be clear, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has bluntly rejected Trump’s call to rename the Gulf of Mexico earlier this month, humorously retorting that the country bordering hers to the north should instead be renamed “América Mexicana,” or Mexican America.

The AP’s announcement did allow some leeway for using both names and referring to the body of water “by its original name while acknowledging the new name Trump has chosen,” and noting other examples where the AP commonly uses more than one name to identify a geographical place, like the Gulf of California (as it is designated by the U.S. government) and the Sea of Cortez (as it is officially called by Mexico).

For the Alaskan mountain, the AP noted that it “lies solely in the United States and as president, Trump has the authority to change federal geographical names within the country,” and so therefore the organization “will use the official name change to Mount McKinley.” Previously, in 2015, President Barack Obama had used his own presidential authority to change the official name to Denali, a name that “reflect[ed] the traditions of Alaska Natives as well as the preference of many Alaska residents.”

Trump may eventually be able to get the AP more on board for the “Gulf of America” renaming as well; the AP’s post stated that the news agency “regularly reviews its style guidance regarding name changes, in part to ensure its guidance reflects common usage” and would “continue to apply that approach to this guidance and make updates as needed.”

This division of authority between what is within the U.S. borders and what is not seems to be driving the decisions of other companies and nations regarding Trump’s renaming efforts.

Both Google Maps and Apple Maps, below, display “Gulf of Mexico” — at least as of Friday afternoon as this article was being written.

Screenshot via Google Maps, Jan. 24, 2025.

Screenshot via Apple Maps on an iPhone 16 Pro, Jan. 24, 2025.

Similarly, “the UK will follow Mr Trump in renaming the mountain on official maps, since it is located entirely within the US and therefore within the jurisdiction of the US Department of the Interior,” but “will continue to call the body of water by its current name unless the new title ordered by Mr Trump gains widespread usage in English,” according to The Telegraph. From the report by the UK-based paper’s Washington editor, Tony Diver:

However, Mr Trump cannot change the name used by other countries or by international organisations because the gulf is an international body of water with coastlines in the US, Mexico and Cuba.

The Telegraph understands the name will not change on official maps in Britain unless “Gulf of America” becomes the most commonly used name for it by English speakers. Officials believe that is not likely for some time, if at all.

A source said the gulf’s name “cannot be universally changed by a single country” and that the new name ordered by Mr Trump “will not apply to UK products”.

Staunch Trump supporter Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) reacted furiously to the news that the Brits were not on board with the “Gulf of America,” posting a tweet touting a bill she had filed on the issue.

“We have to force this to happen and we should!” wrote Greene.

“We rename post offices all the time this isn’t complicated,” she added in a run-on sentence.

It should perhaps be noted that Greene has yet to sponsor a bill that managed to become law, generating plenty of outrageous headlines during her time in Congress but no meaningful legislative accomplishments. A search of legislation she has sponsored brings up only two bills from the last Congress that even passed the House — one to rename a federal courthouse and the other the doomed-from-the-start attempt to impeach then-Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.