Trump Drops Atlantic Renaming Push After Google Rebuff
SingTao · 2 SOURCESabout 3 hours ago2 MIN
Summary
US President Donald Trump said he personally called Google chief executive Sundar Pichai to discuss renaming the Atlantic on Google Maps, but said Pichai refused the request and argued that an ocean was different because it linked many countries. Trump said at a South Carolina campaign rally that he would probably give up the idea after the exchange, though he also joked about renaming the Pacific the “American Ocean.”
Key Points
- Trump said at a South Carolina rally on Wednesday night or Thursday that the US already had “a lake” and “a gulf” and now needed “a river and an ocean.”
- He said he had previously called Google Maps and asked Pichai whether Google could “handle” a request to rename the Atlantic
- Trump quoted Pichai as saying, “No, no, no. I’m not going to do that this time,” because “the ocean is different” and connects many countries.
- Google had not confirmed whether the phone call actually took place, according to SingTao’s report
- Both reports said Google and other online map providers had earlier broadly followed Trump-backed renaming moves for US users involving the Gulf of Mexico and Lake Ontario.
Why It Matters
For Hong Kong readers who rely on global digital map platforms, the episode shows the limits of political pressure on private mapping services when a geographic name affects multiple countries rather than a single domestic audience. It also suggests future naming disputes on major platforms may be handled differently when they involve international waters or shared geography, not just US-facing labels.