Trump Orders Renaming of Gulf of Mexico and Denali, Prompting Backlash

President Trump's executive order to rename the Gulf of Mexico and Denali has reignited debates over place names, cultural heritage, and federal authority.

President Trump issued an executive order to rename the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America and Denali to Mount McKinley, citing a desire to honor American history.
The U.S. Department of the Interior announced that the changes would be effective immediately for federal use, with updates underway in the Geographic Names Information System.
Alaska's Indigenous communities and state leaders strongly oppose reverting Denali's name, emphasizing its cultural significance and its recognition under the Obama administration in 2015.
Renaming the Gulf of Mexico presents international challenges, as the U.S. cannot enforce the name change beyond its territorial waters or compel other countries to adopt it.
The U.S. Board on Geographic Names, responsible for standardizing place names, plays a key role in the process, but local, state, and tribal input is typically integral to such decisions.