Google Just Handed President Trump A Huge Win With Its Latest Maps Update

Amid a flurry of activity in the first week of his second term in office, President Donald Trump announced name changes for two of the continent’s most recognizable natural landmarks.

President Trump has renamed the Gulf of Mexico to 'Gulf of America' and Mount Denali back to 'Mount McKinley' in an executive orders pic.twitter.com/YYhDirOs3U

— Naija (@Naija_PR) January 21, 2025

Although many of his most ardent critics scoffed at the executive action, a growing number of influential entities are acquiescing.

Google Maps, for example, recently confirmed that it would be using both “Gulf of America” and “Mount McKinley” for U.S. users when referring to the respective landmarks.

As The Hill reported:

“We’ve received a few questions about naming within Google Maps. We have a longstanding practice of applying name changes when they have been updated in official government sources,” the company said in an X post.

But users in other countries will see both names displayed on the map in line with a long standing practice, the company said.

President Donald Trump ordered the name changes the day of his inauguration last week, making good on his campaign promise. The federal government has since formally implemented the directive to rename both.

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The Gulf of Mexico change is new, but naming the nation’s highest peak has been a matter of debate for years.

The move was widely interpreted by social media users as a major policy victory for the president:

BREAKING: Google Maps Forced to Bow to Trump's Will, Updates to Show 'Gulf of America' and 'Mount McKinley' pic.twitter.com/SjgFlSLJIO

— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) January 27, 2025

Google has changed its maps to call the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of AMERICA after President Trump’s executive orders.

But Congress must pass my bill officially changing its name so that a future America last admin doesn’t change it back! pic.twitter.com/IOOyJNRdT6

— Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene🇺🇸 (@RepMTG) January 28, 2025

A number of other institutions have also announced that they will use one or both of the new monikers:

GULF OF AMERICA, MOUNT MCKINLEY: Just got this from Oklahoma’s education department. Our state’s history standards have been changed to include Gulf of America (previously Gulf of Mexico) and Mt. McKinley (previously Denali before McKinley) to comply with President Trump’s EO. pic.twitter.com/XMdWgqK4ap

— Abigail Ogle📝 (@KOCOAbigail) January 23, 2025

For its part, the Associated Press confirmed that its style guide had been updated to use “Mount McKinley” to refer to the mountain previously known as Denali.

As Politico reported:

Trump’s executive order — “Restoring Names That Honor American Greatness” — gives the Interior secretary 30 days to reinstate the mountain’s name and subsequently update the Geographic Names Information System, the federal database of names of geographic features and towns across the country. Trump’s pick to lead the department — former North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum — has yet to be confirmed by the Senate, and the mountain is, as of Thursday afternoon, still called Denali in the GNIS.

But it’s not a total stylebook victory for Trump. The large body of water at the U.S. southern border will remain as the Gulf of Mexico, the AP announced. The reason is all about jurisdiction. Where the mountain is firmly on U.S. land and its federal geographic name is under the president’s purview, the Gulf shares borders with Mexico, where Trump doesn’t have jurisdiction.

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“The Gulf of Mexico has carried that name for more than 400 years,” the AP’s Amanda Barrett, the vice president of standards and inclusion at the wire service, wrote.“The Associated Press will refer to it by its original name while acknowledging the new name Trump has chosen.”

Here’s a clip of Trump’s announcement of the name changes: