Trump shares Google CEO's exact response to bizarre Atlantic Ocean rename request
President Donald Trump has been hard at work with his rebranding of gulfs, lakes, and now even an ocean.
This comes after the US leader initially decided to change the Gulf of Mexico to the ‘Gulf of America’ last year, followed by a more recent move to rebrand Lake Ontario, which has had its name since the 1640s, to ‘Lake America’.
There have also been comments made by Trump that he would like to see the state of New Mexico be renamed and now, it seems that the president has set his sights on the Atlantic Ocean.
Earlier this week, Trump spoke at a rally in South Carolina where he said: “We have a lake and we have a gulf, now we need a river and we need an ocean.”
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The president has previously pushed for geographical names to reflect his administration’s preferences, including changing the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America. Now, it appears he had another ambitious request for Google Maps.
Trump said he had been impressed with Google’s response to his previous naming requests but has claimed that his most recent bid hasn’t gone down as well.
He continued: “They’re still rattled from the Gulf.”
In an apparent conversation Trump had with Google CEO Sundar Pichai, the president claimed that the tech boss had said to him: “No, no, no. This time, I’m not doing it. Please don’t ask us to do that.”
Following the alleged conversation, the president suggested he would abandon his plans to rename the Atlantic Ocean, at least for now.
Trump went on to say: “I think let’s keep it the Atlantic Ocean, right?”
However, it doesn’t seem to have put the leader off pursuing other changes as he added: “Pacific Ocean, we’re going to call it the American Ocean.”
Trump’s controversial name change of Lake Ontario
The move by Trump to rename Lake Ontario to ‘Lake America’ was met with a lot of backlash, with Ontario’s premier Doug Ford hitting back at Trump by placing a large sign by the lake which reads: “Lake Ontario. Now and Always.”
In response to the US president’s order, Ford went on to say: “Long before President Trump, this lake was called Lake Ontario. Long after President Trump is gone, it will still be called Lake Ontario.”
Because the lake borders international lines, Trump does not have the power to make this change on a global scale, so instead, the executive order only applies to the US part of the lake.