United States President Donald Trump signed a proclamation on Sunday (local time)
declaring February 9 as “the first-ever Gulf of America Day,” celebrating the renaming of the area formerly known as the Gulf of Mexico.
Trump was on his way to the New Orleans for the Super Bowl 59 and signed this proclamation as Air Force One flew over the area he was renaming.
This follows the signing of Executive Order 14172 on January 20, 2025, which mandated the renaming of the US Continental Shelf area.
As part of the order, the Secretary of the Interior was directed to take the necessary actions to rename the area bounded by Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida, and extend to the seaward boundary with Mexico and Cuba.
In a statement, President Trump explained his decision: “I took this action in part because, as stated in that Order, “[t]he area formerly known as the Gulf of Mexico has long been an integral asset to our once burgeoning Nation and has remained an indelible part of
America.”
“Today, I am very honoured to recognize February 9, 2025, as the firstever Gulf of America Day,” according to the White House.
“On January 20, 2025, I signed Executive Order 14172 (“Restoring Names That Honor American Greatness”). Among other actions, that Executive Order required the Secretary of the Interior, acting pursuant to 43 U.S.C. 364 through 364f, to “take all appropriate
actions to rename as the ‘Gulf of America’ the U.S. Continental Shelf area bounded on the northeast, north, and northwest by the State of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida and extending to the seaward boundary with Mexico and Cuba in the area formerly named as the Gulf of Mexico,” the statement added.
