Apple renames Gulf of Mexico to ‘Gulf of America’ in line with Donald Trump's order

Apple has renamed the Gulf of Mexico's name to the Gulf of America for people using the application, reported Bloomberg. The development has come days after Alphabet Inc's Google made a similar update to its Google Maps app following US President Donald Trump's order.

Donald Trump, on Wednesday, declared February 9 as the “first-ever Gulf of America Day”, after officially renaming the water body, which was earlier known as the Gulf of Mexico.

While the Donald Trump administration has implemented the change on its official website, the administration has restricted the access of journalists of media organisations which do not follow its order to rename Gulf of Mexico.

According to the news agency Associated Press, the White House blocked the entry of its reporter from an event at Oval Office on Tuesday. The news agency has been asked to alter its style on the Gulf of Mexico. According to AP, the highly unusual ban on reporters could have constitutional free speech implications.

Apple renames Gulf of Mexico to Gulf of America

The recent change has come after the United States government updated its official map to reflect the new name. According to Bloomberg report, the change is visible to its customers in the US, but the new name of the landlocked body of water will be updated for all users globally.

Apple Maps app are available on most of its devices including the iPhone, iPad and Mac. 

Donald Trump executive orders

Donald Trump had signed multiple executive orders ever since he took over office on January 20. One of them instructed change in name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America and restoring the name of Mount Denali to Mount McKinley.

Donald Trump signed over 26 orders on first day as US president, most of them focused on reversing Former US president Joe Biden's policies on gender equality, diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), foreign aid, etc.

Donald Trump's order, “Restoring Names That Honour American Greatness” (Executive Order 14172), on January 20, instructed the US Secretary of the Interior to formalise the name change within 30 days.

As per a White House statement, the Gulf of America includes the "US Continental Shelf area bounded to the northeast, north, and northwest by Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida, extending to the maritime boundary with Mexico and Cuba".

Apart from Google Maps App and Apple Maps, other navigation applications like Bing Maps and MapQuest Inc. are yet to rename the gulf, reported Bloomber citing on Tuesday.

Mexico has criticised the decision announced by the US government and stated that the US can't rename a body of water, touching both countries, on its own.