President-elect Donald Trump said he wants to change the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the “Gulf of America” during a wide-ranging press conference on Tuesday.
“We’re going to be changing the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the ‘Gulf of America,’” he said. “The ‘Gulf of America,’ what a beautiful name.”
The idea appeared to be gaining traction with members of Congress almost immediately. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) announced on X that she would quickly introduce a bill renaming the Gulf of Mexico following Trump’s remarks.
“President Trump’s second term is off to a GREAT start,” she wrote. “I’ll be introducing legislation ASAP to officially change the name of the Gulf of Mexico to its rightful name, the Gulf of America!”
Rep. Randy Weber (R-TX) also endorsed the rebrand, writing on X, “Let’s do it. Gulf of America > Gulf of Mexico.”
The Gulf of Mexico is surrounded by the United States to its north and Mexico and Cuba to the south. The body of water remained nameless until the early 1540s, according to the Texas State Historical Association. In 2012, a Mississippi state representative introduced a bill to rename the Gulf of Mexico the “Gulf of America,” but the legislation died in committee.
Trump made the comment about the name change after complaining that the U.S. has a large trade deficit with Mexico and Canada. He has vowed to impose tariffs on both countries.
Since his election win, Trump has voiced his interest in adding land to the U.S. He mentioned retaking the Panama Canal, merging Canada with the U.S., and purchasing Greenland, where Donald Trump Jr. visited on Tuesday.
During his press conference, he refused to rule out using military force to reclaim the Panama Canal, though he said the military wouldn’t be involved in any annexation effort of Canada.
Trump announces the name of the Gulf of Mexico will be changed to ‘Gulf of America’
READ: https://t.co/9qIlDs7Nk0 pic.twitter.com/PLfwm7s1Ct
— Washington Examiner (@dcexaminer) January 7, 2025
“The Panama Canal was built for our military. I’m not going to commit to that,” he said in response to a question about whether he would be willing to rule out military or economic coercion in retaking the Panama Canal.
“It might be that you’ll have to do something,” he added. “Look, the Panama Canal is vital to our country.”
Asked later whether he would also use the military against Canada, which he has also floated the US acquiring, Trump said: “No, economic force.”
During the news conference that lasted more than an hour, Trump also said he’d be making major pardons for defendants involved in the Jan. 6 riots, but declined to get into specifics. He also declined to rule out pardoning those convicted of assaulting police officers.
“Well, we’re looking at it, and we have other people in there,” Trump said.
Trump later added: “People that were doing some bad things weren’t prosecuted, and people that didn’t even walk into the building are in jail right now. So, we’ll be looking at the whole thing. But I’ll be making major pardons, yes.”
Steve Witkoff, Trump’s incoming special envoy to the Middle East, also appeared alongside Trump on Tuesday and told reporters he’s working with Biden administration officials to make a deal between Israel and Hamas. Throughout the press conference, Trump reiterated his threat that “all hell will break out in the Middle East” if the hostages being held by Hamas are not released by Inauguration Day. He repeated the claim four separate times.
Trump’s remarks at Mar-a-Lago came a day after Congress certified his 2024 presidential election win. The incoming president called the U.S. a “horrible” place and stated that there are some places where “they’re still counting the votes,” despite lawmakers making his victory official on Monday.
Trump slammed what he called the “weaponization of justice” by Democrats and called special counsel Jack Smith a “nut job.” At one point, he was informed that Judge Aileen Cannon temporarily blocked the Justice Department from releasing Smith’s final report, which he called a “big story.”
An appeals court is still debating whether to let the report become public.
Trump also promised to undo President Joe Biden’s last-minute ban on new drilling in some federal waters, saying it would be done “immediately.”
“Banning offshore drilling will not stand,” Trump said. “I will reverse it immediately. It will be done immediately and we will drill, baby, drill.”
Trump claimed the Biden administration is “trying everything they can to make [the transition] more difficult” and is working to “block the reforms of the American people and that they voted for.”
Trump said Democrats were trying to “embarrass” him with the various legal challenges he is facing and also accused Democrats of “playing with the courts.”
“Remember, this is a man that said he wants to transition to be smooth,” he said of Biden. “Well, you don’t do the kind of things, you don’t have a judge working real hard to try and embarrass you.”
During the remarks, Trump expressed confidence in Republican leaders in Congress to carry out his agenda.
“They’re great. So we have a wonderful Republican Congress. We have a leader that I have a lot of confidence in,” Trump said, referring to House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), who was reelected to lead the House last week. “I think he’s going to be hopefully a great leader, a great speaker.”
Trump also praised Sen. John Thune (R-SD), the new Senate majority leader.
“We have a leader, by the way, in the Senate, I think has been great,” Trump said. “John Thune has been doing a fantastic job.”
Trump opened his press conference by announcing a multibillion-dollar investment in data centers in multiple states by investors from Dubai. Hussain Sajwani, an Emirati billionaire, stood alongside Trump, revealing he had no plans to invest in the U.S. until Trump was reelected.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
“It’s been amazing news for me and my family when he was elected in November. We’ve been waiting four years to increase our investments in the U.S. to a very large amount of money,” Sajwani said.
During Trump’s last press conference in December, the president-elect stood alongside SoftBank’s chief executive, Masayoshi Son, and announced a $100 billion investment in the U.S. over the next four years.
