Overview
- Trump, in a Fox News interview Sunday, said he briefly weighed calling the waterway the “Gulf of Trump,” then added he was joking and said it would not “play too well.”
- The federal rename took effect by executive order on January 20, 2025, with the Interior Department instructing agencies to use “Gulf of America.”
- His claim that the United States has “93%” of the shoreline conflicts with U.S. Geological Survey data showing the U.S. share is about 46%.
- Mexico has rejected the change and points to centuries of global use of “Gulf of Mexico,” underscoring that U.S. federal naming does not guarantee international adoption.
- During the segment, he tied the branding push to energy talk by claiming empty supertankers are heading to the U.S. Gulf Coast during what he called a Strait of Hormuz blockade.