Trump Wanted to Rename the Atlantic Ocean
He asked the head of Google about it, but was refused
Donald Trump stated that he approached Google CEO Sundar Pichai with a proposal to change the name of the Atlantic Ocean on Google Maps. According to the American leader, the tech giant refused this time, although it had previously yielded to similar demands from Washington.
Speaking to supporters in South Carolina, Trump shared details of his phone call with the head of the tech giant. "I am only interested in two oceans: the Atlantic and the Pacific. I do not intend to name any other body of water after Trump or America. So we seriously considered the Atlantic Ocean, and I called Google Maps... I said: 'Sundar, I’ve been thinking about the Atlantic Ocean,'" Trump recounted.
According to him, Sundar Pichai categorically rejected the initiative: "No, no, no. I won’t do that this time... Oceans are different, sir. They border many countries. Please don’t ask us to do this." Trump added that after this response, he decided to temporarily set the idea aside and retain the traditional name.
Previously, Google had agreed to controversial Trump initiatives to rename geographical features, which drew sharp criticism from neighboring countries. The Gulf of Mexico was renamed "Gulf of America" on maps for users in the U.S. Lake Ontario, amid trade disputes with Ottawa, was locally labeled "Lake America" (Lake America).
For American users, Google displays the new names (with historical names in parentheses), while residents of Mexico and Canada continue to see the traditional geographical designations on the company’s services.
