Reuters reported on May 8 that the U.S. House of Representatives, controlled by the Republican Party, passed a bill to officially rename the Gulf of Mexico as the "Gulf of United States" with 211 votes in favor and 206 votes against.

Statistics show that the Republicans hold a majority of 53 seats in the Senate, but at least 60 votes are usually required for relevant legislation to pass. Therefore, this bill is unlikely to be passed in the U.S. Senate. Assuming this bill can be passed in the Senate and formally adopted, future U.S. presidents will find it difficult to modify Trump's executive orders.

In response to the renaming of the Gulf of Mexico, Mexican President López Obrador stated on the morning of May 9 that the Mexican government has filed a lawsuit with Google US, accusing Google US of arbitrarily renaming the "Gulf of Mexico" to the "Gulf of United States" in its map services for American users.

López Obrador said: "The U.S. government has no right to name the entire sea area. According to international rules, the Gulf of Mexico is a water area shared by multiple countries, and its name has international legal effect."

She also stated that the Trump administration had full authority to rename territories within its own country, but the seas under Mexican or Cuban control cannot be renamed by the U.S. or any other party.

She added: "We do not intend to ask them to change the name of any state, mountain, or lake in the U.S."

Public information shows that the Gulf of Mexico is an elliptical bay deeply extending into the southeastern part of North America, surrounded mostly by the territories of the United States and Mexico. The island of Cuba is located in the middle of the bay mouth, and the Florida Strait on its north side and the Yucatan Strait on its west side respectively connect the Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea.

This name has been in use since the 16th century. Before the U.S.-Mexico War from 1846 to 1848, Texas, California, New Mexico, and other states now belonging to the U.S. were part of Mexico. After the U.S.-Mexico War, Mexico suffered heavy losses and lost large areas of territory. Some historians pointed out that the U.S.-Mexico War was "the largest land grab in the history of wars."

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