President-elect Donald Trump has said he wants to change the name of the Gulf of Mexico to something more American.
Trump was speaking at a press conference on Tuesday from Mar-a-Lago when he made the remark.
“We’re going to be changing the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America, which has a beautiful ring,” Trump said. “That covers a lot of territory. The Gulf of America, what a beautiful name. And it’s appropriate.”
The Republican said his administration will be making the official announcement “at a future date pretty soon.”
“Because we do most of the work there and it’s ours,” he said.
“Mexico’s really in trouble. A lot of trouble. It’s a very dangerous place,” Trump said.
The president-elect said the country “has to stop allowing millions of people to pour into” the U.S. and repeated his threats to impose tariffs on Mexico and Canada.
“And we’re going to put very serious tariffs on Mexico and Canada because Canada…they come through Canada too and the drugs that are coming through are at record numbers,” Trump said, without referring to any figures or evidence.
Florida, Alabama, Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi have a coastline along the Gulf of Mexico.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo hasn’t publicly respond to Trump’s announcement but spoke with him in recent months about the tariff threats.
During the impromptu press conference, Trump also declined to rule out using the military to retake the Panama Canal and to take over Greenland.
In response to a question from a reporter, Trump said: “I’m not going to commit to that. It might be that you’ll have to do something.”
Last month Trump accused Panama of “ripping off” American vessels by charging “exorbitant prices” to use the vital waterway that acts as a shortcut linking the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.
Changing the name of the gulf and taking back the Canal are not the only world plans on Trump’s mind. His eldest son Donald Trump Jr has been dispatched on a visit to Greenland after the president-elect expressed an interest in acquiring the autonomous Arctic territory from Denmark.
The incoming commander-in-chief first trailed the visit on his Truth Social platform on Monday evening by posting: “I am hearing that the people of Greenland are ‘MAGA’.
“My son, Don Jr, and various representatives, will be traveling there to visit some of the most magnificent areas and sights.”
