Gulf of America? Trump Floats Name Change for Gulf of Mexico

From “Freedom Gas” to “Gulf of America”: Trump Doubling Down on Energy Nationalism

President-elect Donald Trump has announced plans to rename the Gulf of Mexico to the “Gulf of America” while also promising to reverse President Biden’s newly announced restrictions on offshore drilling.

“We’re going to be changing the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America, which has a beautiful ring,” Trump declared during a Tuesday press conference from Mar-a-Lago. “That covers a lot of territory. The Gulf of America, what a beautiful name.”

The proposed name change would affect one of North America’s most significant bodies of water, whose current name dates back to 16th-century Spanish explorers. The gulf’s extensive coastline is nearly evenly divided between Mexico and the United States—Mexico’s shoreline spans 1,743 miles while the U.S. coastline extends 1,631 miles.

During his first term, then President Trump famously tried to rebrand U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) as “freedom gas,” with one DOE official even describing LNG exports as “molecules of U.S. freedom.” The term emerged as part of a broader effort to highlight the increasing role of U.S. energy exports in global markets and the Trump administration’s push for “energy dominance.”

At the same press conference today, Trump also took aim at the Biden administration’s announcement yesterday banning new oil and gas leasing in some 625 million acres of federal waters off the East and West coasts, the eastern Gulf of Mexico and portions of the northern Bering Sea in Alaska.

“Banning offshore drilling will not stand. I will reverse it immediately,” Trump stated emphatically, adding that he would “revoke offshore oil, gas drilling ban in vast areas on day one” of his administration.

The Gulf of Mexico remains the United States’ primary offshore source of oil and gas, accounting for 97% of all U.S. Outer Continental Shelf oil and gas production. It generates 14% of total U.S. crude oil production, along with 5% of natural gas production, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Trump’s inauguration is scheduled for January 20th.

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