The National Tsunami Warning Center, the U.S. entity responsible for issuing tsunami alerts after major earthquakes worldwide, and the United States Geological Survey (USGS) used in their official communications the name that the country's president had ordered to be changed to "Gulf of America" in one of his first executive orders on January 20, just after taking office.
Donald Trump had hinted the move a few weeks before beginning his second term, and made it official just hours after returning to the White House.
As part of an international geopolitical offensive—which included suggestions to Canada that it should renounce its independence and become the “51st state” of the United States, threats to Panama regarding a potential U.S. reclaiming of the strategic canal, and a peculiar dispute with Denmark over Trump’s desire to annex Greenland—one of his measures was to order all government institutions to push for a name change of a key geographical landmark: the Gulf of Mexico.
“Restoring names that honor American greatness,” states the executive order signed by Trump on January 20, the same day he took office. The order declares that the gulf will be renamed “Gulf of America”, a generic name for our continent but one that Americans typically use to refer to their own country. Moreover, Trump himself found the new designation “beautiful.”
The issue sparked a dispute with Mexico, whose president, Claudia Sheinbaum, jokingly suggested renaming the southern region of the United States as “Mexican America.” Even Google announced a few weeks ago that it would change the name on its maps. However, this Saturday, at a critical moment, a U.S. government agency used the historical name.
“This is a tsunami information statement for the U.S. East Coast, Gulf of Mexico states, and eastern Canada.” This was how the National Tsunami Warning Center (NTWC), based in Alaska and responsible for issuing tsunami alerts after major global earthquakes, reported the impact of the 7.6-magnitude earthquake that struck the Caribbean Sea—not once, but twice. While the usage of the term is not incorrect, as it is the internationally recognized name, it directly contradicts Trump’s own order.
At the same time, multiple users on X (formerly Twitter) noticed that both in reports and maps from the United States Geological Survey (USGS), the name remained unchanged. Some even tagged Elon Musk, the owner of the platform and a billionaire who has become Trump’s chief advisor and right-hand man in his second term.
En este mapa, generado por el United States Geological Survey (USGS), que muestra la localización del fuerte sismo ocurrido esta tarde en el Mar Caribe, el Golfo de México conserva su nombre. pic.twitter.com/ZufSMXdqUZ
— Josué Sánchez – @jstapetillo.bsky.social (@JSTapetillo) February 9, 2025
@elonmusk Aún sigue siendo golfo de México? pic.twitter.com/blEJZ80gat
— Henry A. Pinto (@hapinto2) February 9, 2025
Nevertheless, technically, the authorities and agencies involved did not violate the order itself. According to the executive order, Trump gave the Secretary of the Interior a 30-day deadline to review and implement the general renaming process.
However, given the recent geopolitical tensions—including threats of tariff increases on neighboring Mexico and Canada—it will be interesting to see whether this mention remains just a phrasing issue or has consequences for the officials at the U.S. agency.
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