AP barred from Oval Office for using 'Gulf of Mexico' in style guide
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"Limiting our access to the Oval Office based on the content of AP's speech not only severely impedes the public's access to independent news, it plainly violates the First Amendment," the Associated Press's Julie Pace said.
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President Donald Trump holds up a signed executive order, on Monday, February 10, 2025. (AP)
The Associated Press was barred from entering the Oval Office to report on Trump's executive order signing after the agency continued using "Gulf of Mexico" in its style guide, going against Trump's order calling it the "Gulf of America".
In a style note last month, the Associated Press said that Trump's executive order to rename the Gulf of Mexico to Gulf of America "only carries authority within the United States" emphasizing that "Mexico, as well as other countries and international bodies, do not have to recognize the name change."
AP's Executive Editor Julie Pace said in a statement, "Today we were informed by the White House that if AP did not align its editorial standards with President Donald Trump’s executive order renaming the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America, AP would be barred from accessing an event in the Oval Office."
Pace added, "It is alarming that the Trump administration would punish AP for its independent journalism. Limiting our access to the Oval Office based on the content of AP’s speech not only severely impedes the public’s access to independent news, it plainly violates the First Amendment."
Trump and the Gulf of Mexico
Trump signed an executive order to change the "Gulf of Mexico", a name that has been used since the mid-16th century, to "Gulf of America" as part of a series of executive orders after he took office on January 20th.
The Department of the Interior announced on January 24 that the "Gulf of Mexico will now officially be known as the Gulf of America, and North America's highest peak will once again bear the name Mount McKinley."
Trump first suggested his plan in early January 2025 before his inauguration, which the Mexican president responded to by saying the American continent should be named "Americana Mexicana", citing an 1814 document that referred to the region that way. "That sounds nice, no?" she added.
Claudia Sheinbaum, president of Mexico, emphasized that the change applies only to the US continental shelf. "It is important to read what the order says. It says that it will be called the Gulf of America on their continental shelf. In other words, what corresponds to the US continental shelf, they call the Gulf of America. For us, it is still the Gulf of Mexico, as it is for the rest of the world."
Google went along with the executive order, renaming the Gulf to "Gulf of America" in February on Google Maps for users in the United States, meanwhile, users in other countries will see both names, with Gulf of America between parentheses.
