Mexico sues Google over renaming of Gulf of Mexico on US maps

Mexico has filed a lawsuit against Google over the renaming of the Gulf of Mexico as the "Gulf of America" on its mapping service for users in the United States, President Claudia Sheinbaum has announced.

Speaking at her regular morning briefing on May 10, Sheinbaum confirmed legal action had already been initiated, though she did not specify the jurisdiction or date of filing, Caliber.Az reports, citing foreign media.

The move follows a controversial vote in the US House of Representatives on Thursday, in which Republican lawmakers approved legislation to enshrine former President Donald Trump’s policy of renaming the Gulf.

The bill, introduced by far-right congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, passed largely along party lines. All Democrats voted against the measure, while nearly all Republicans supported it, with the exception of Nebraska’s Don Bacon, a moderate facing a difficult re-election campaign.

Although the bill mandates the name change for federal agencies, it is unlikely to pass in the Democratic-controlled Senate. Even if it did, the change would carry no weight internationally, as foreign governments are under no obligation to adopt the revised terminology.

President Sheinbaum criticised the rebranding, asserting that the United States does not have authority over the entire Gulf. “The US government only refers to the portion of its own continental shelf as the Gulf of America, not the whole gulf,” she said.

Sheinbaum had previously warned Google, a subsidiary of tech conglomerate Alphabet, in February that legal steps would be taken unless the name was restored to the Gulf of Mexico. Her administration argues that Trump’s executive order on the matter applies solely to US territorial waters.

In a pointed response to the American move, Sheinbaum joked that Mexico might start referring to its northern neighbour as “América Mexicana” — or Mexican America — referencing maps from before 1848, when large swathes of Mexican territory were annexed by the United States.

The dispute comes as both nations engage in diplomatic efforts to de-escalate rising tensions, which have been further inflamed by Trump's ongoing trade war rhetoric and tariffs targeting Mexican exports.

By Aghakazim Guliyev