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China Suggests Trump ‘Bullying’ Mexico
China has accused the U.S. of “bullying” following President Donald Trump’s order to change the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the “Gulf of America.”
Newsweek reached out to the White House outside office hours with an emailed request for comment.
Why It Matters
The name change, made by executive order shortly after Trump took office on January 20, has met resistance internationally over the rechristening of the gulf, where both the U.S. and Mexico have a roughly similar length of coastline. The Associated Press said Wednesday a reporter had been barred from a White House event over the agency’s refusal to update its editorial guidelines to align with the administration’s order.
What to Know
China‘s Foreign Ministry had strong words for the Trump administration when addressing the name change during its regular press briefing Wednesday.
Asked whether Beijing would use the term to refer to the Gulf of Mexico going forward, spokesperson Guo Jiakun responded: “It is China’s consistent position to oppose hegemonic, domineering, and bullying practices in international relations.”
The name change took immediate effect within the federal government and has since been adopted by the map services of Google, Microsoft, and Apple. The president has called the gulf an “indelible part of America” and cited its importance to U.S. oil, fishing, and tourism.
Beijing and Washington are also at loggerheads over another waterway in the Americas: the Panama Canal. Trump said China has gained control over the canal—a claim both Panama City and Beijing have denied.
Panama’s president, José Raúl Mulino, recently said the country was withdrawing from China’s Belt and Road Initiative, after joining the international infrastructure plan in 2017. Mulino said the decision had been made by Panama alone.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry said it “deeply regrets” Panama’s decision and suggested U.S. “smearing and sabotage” was behind the move.
What People Are Saying
President Donald Trump said in his proclamation declaring February 9 Gulf of America Day: “I took this action in part because, as stated in that [executive] order, the area formerly known as the Gulf of Mexico has long been an integral asset to our once burgeoning nation and has remained an indelible part of America.”
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum told reporters on January 30: “If a country wants to change the designation of something in the sea, it would only apply up to 12 nautical miles. It cannot apply to the rest, in this case, the Gulf of Mexico. This is what we explained in detail to Google.”
The Associated Press addressed the issue in its style guide: “The Gulf of Mexico has carried that name for more than 400 years. The Associated Press will refer to it by its original name while acknowledging the new name Trump has chosen.
“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.”
What’s Next?
It is highly unlikely China, or the governments of the U.S.’s neighbors, will employ the term “Gulf of America.”
While The AP has made clear it won’t adopt the name in its style guide, it will use the new official designation of Alaska’s Mount McKinley, as it lies entirely within U.S. territory. Trump in an executive order reversed a Barack Obama administration decision that named it Denali, which was given to North America’s tallest mountain by the Indigenous Koyukon people.
MIAMI HERALD