Trump signs orders to rename Gulf of Mexico, Mount Denali
Department of Research, Studies and International News 21-01-2025
In the order to rename the body of water, Donald Trump mentioned that it is the “largest gulf in the world” and stressed its economic significance
US President Donald Trump signed an executive order to rename the Gulf of Mexico into the Gulf of America and North America’s highest mountain peak, Mount Denali, into Mount McKinley.
According to the order that is published on the White House website, the secretary of the interior, shall within 30 days settle the formalities related to the change of the name. The secretary shall subsequently update the Geographic Names Information System to reflect the renaming, and officials shall then make sure all federal references to these geographic sites, including on documents and communications, reflect the new names.
In the order to rename the body of water, Trump mentioned that it is the “largest gulf in the world” and stressed its economic significance.
“Its natural resources and wildlife remain central to America’s economy today,” the order said. “In recognition of this flourishing economic resource and its critical importance to our Nation’s economy and its people, I am directing that it officially be renamed the Gulf of America.”
Alaska’s Mount Denali was again named after the 25th US president, William McKinley. It had carried the name since 1917 until the administration of President Barack Obama renamed it in 2015 as Mount Denali, as it was historically called by the native peoples of the Alaska Peninsula.
Trump, in his order, blasted Obama’s decision as an “affront” to President McKinley who “heroically led our Nation to victory in the Spanish-American War.”
Trump first announced his desire to rename the Gulf of Mexico in a speech at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida on January 7. His first public mention of the intention to rename Mount Denali dates back to late December 2024. The mountain used to be considered the highest peak of the Russian Empire before Alaska was sold to the US in 1867.
