Trump proclaims ‘Gulf of America Day’ while flying over former Gulf of Mexico on way to Super Bowl
President Trump officially declared Sunday “Gulf of America Day” in celebration of his recent executive order to rename the body of water — signing the proclamation while flying over it en route to the Super Bowl.
“I, Donald J. Trump, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim February 9, 2025, as Gulf of America Day,” reads the proclamation, which Trump inked aboard Air Force One.
“I call upon public officials and all the people of the United States to observe this day with appropriate programs, ceremonies, and activities,” it added.
Just as Trump was signing the order, Air Force One’s captain invited passengers to look out the window and view the “Gulf of America” under its new name “for the first time in history.”
Trump announced he was renaming the gulf Jan. 20 as part of an order to “[restore] names that honor American greatness.”
Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum said that as of Sunday’s declaration, “map providers” such as Apple and Google would begin updating their information to reflect the new name.
It remains unclear exactly what “appropriate programs, ceremonies, and activities” might be held in honor of the renaming and whether it will be celebrated annually or just this year.
Trump told reporters as he signed the proclamation that he hasn’t spoken to Mexican officials once about the new name.
“Interestingly I’ve never spoken to them about it. It was our call,” Trump said as Burgum held up a map of the United States with “Gulf of America” written broadly across the bottom.
“I’ve spoke to them about many other things but I haven’t really talked to them about it. They’ve never brought it up. I’m a little surprised at that,” the president added.
His previous name-changing executive order also called on Mt. Denali in Alaska to have the name Mt. McKinley returned and required all government signage, mapping and communications to use that and “Gulf of America” instead of their previous names.
Google has said it would comply with the name updates to a point, explaining that users will still see their “official local name” depending on where they are.
Trump was flying over the gulf from Mar-a-Lago in Florida on his way New Orleans to watch the Super Bowl, where he became the first president to attend the football classic.
