Trump Renamed the Gulf of Mexico, but Who Controls It?

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Trump Renamed the Gulf of Mexico, but Who Controls It?

The Trump administration has renamed the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America, but most of the body of water lies outside maritime regions controlled by the United States.

Maritime claims in the Gulf of Mexico

Source: Sovereign Limits

By Zach Levitt

According to calculations by

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, a database of international boundaries, the United States lays claim to 46 percent of the gulf, while Mexico lays claim to 49 percent.

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are divided into categories based on distance from the coast. Territorial seas lie closest to a nation’s shore, and the laws of a country apply within and below those waters the way they do on land, for the most part.

Farther beyond the shore, a country’s exclusive economic zone is where it controls what is in the water, like fish, as well as what is in and below the seabed, like oil and gas. Additionally, the gulf contains sections of so-called high seas, where a country might also retain rights only to the natural resources of the seabed and subsoil.

Mexico

292,400

49%

Territorial Seas

23,700

4%

Economic zones

262,800

44%

High seas

5,800

1%

United States

273,200

46%

Territorial Seas

36,300

6%

Economic zones

232,300

39%

High seas

4,600

1%

Cuba

31,600

6%

Territorial Seas

3,400

1%

Economic zones

27,700

5%

High seas

500

<1%

Source: Sovereign Limits

Note: Figures may not add up to 100 percent because of rounding.

The gulf, like many regions around the world, has maritime boundaries that are mutually agreed upon by the countries along its coast. According to Kevin Danaher and Marissa Wood at Sovereign Limits, the gulf is “covered fully by established maritime boundaries.”

The Gulf of Mexico has appeared on maps for

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, but geographic name changes are common throughout history. This name change has an immediate impact on U.S. federal agencies that map or refer to the gulf. Some companies such as

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and Apple now display Gulf of America for users in the United States. For others, the name change is optional.

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