Politics
Google Maps controversy: Who has a larger percentage of the ‘Gulf of Mexico’, the United States or Mexico?
President Claudia Sheinbaum of Mexico has protested Google’s decision to change the name of the Gulf of Mexico as Trump has unilaterally decreed.
Donald Trump has been butting heads with numerous foreign leaders since reassuming the US presidency from declaring that he will impose tariffs on their imports to forcing them to take back migrants that originated from their countries. He is even trying to strong arm some into giving up their sovereignty to the United States.
The new imperialist push based on ‘Manifest Destiny’ by the 47th US president even includes renaming geographical landmarks like the Gulf of Mexico, whose name dates back over 400 years, to the ‘Gulf of America’. But the United States isn’t the only country which has a coastline on the 620,000 square-mile semi-enclosed body of water.
Both Mexico and Cuba also have rights to large swaths of the important sea basin. Nonetheless, Google announced that it will make the name change to ‘Gulf of America’ for users of Google Maps in the United States once it is officially updated in the US Geographic Names System. Users in Mexico will still see the ‘Gulf of Mexico’ in the app, but all other countries will see both names.
The decision by the tech giant prompted President Claudia Sheinbaum of Mexico to write a letter of protest to Google on Thursday. She said at a press conference that any name change should only apply to the 12 nautical miles from the coastline where countries are completely sovereign over those waters as it “applies to all countries worldwide.”
So how is possession of the seas divided up between nations and who has more sovereignty over the Gulf of Mexico/Gulf of America?
Exclusive economic zone (EEZ) versus territorial sea
International laws establish the recognized maritime zones of all nations including international waters, the territorial sea, the contiguous zone, the exclusive economic zone (EEZ), the high seas and the Area. The territorial sea, the waters that are within 12 nautical miles of a nation’s coastline, are what President Sheinbaum was referring to. By that account, Mexico has far more coastline on the Gulf of Mexico than the US.
Mexico has a little more than 2,046 miles of coastline on the Gulf of Mexico, pertaining to the states of Tamaulipas (which shares a border with Texas), Veracruz, Tabasco, Campeche and Yucatán. The US on the other hand has a little less than 1,632 miles of Gulf coastline belonging to the states of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida.
However, the US has an advantage when it comes to the size of its continental shelf, which is more extensive thus giving it more maritime territory in this area. As far as percentage of territory within the EEZ divisions of the body of water that each nation can exploit, the US has exclusive access to around 40%, Mexico 38% and the remaining 12% belongs to Cuba.
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