The renaming of geographical features—both those that belong to the United States and those that do not—has become a constant in President Donald Trump's policy. As well as his desire to generate controversy by publishing modified maps that extend the US borders to Greenland, Mexico and even the Caribbean. To this have been added statements that reveal their territorial ambition. Among them, suggestions to make Canada or Venezuela the 51st state or to buy Greenland. "It is a way to exert influence, power and change people's mentality. They are premeditated actions to generate controversy and to be able to put other issues on the agenda," Armando Jiménez, professor of International Relations at the Francisco de Vitoria University, tells 20minutos.
According to the analyst, the president sends these messages in order to try to demonstrate the power of the United States. Although he also uses them as an instrument to vindicate the interests of his country and as a form of propaganda about what he considers geopolitical, military or geoeconomic successes. For Jiménez, the best example is the case of the Strait of Hormuz, which Trump claims he has under his control. A good reason, according to the president, to rename it with his name.
"The case of the Gulf of Mexico did not have as much impact in the United States or in Mexico, although it definitely offended Mexicans. Now it has taken up the issue of changing the name of the state of New Mexico to New America, something that generated controversy among its inhabitants. Not because of its Mexican identity but because of respect for its regional identity," says the expert, who believes that Trump sends two messages with this latest decision. "One in which he says that he does not want the word Mexico - now associated with underdevelopment, drugs, conflict and disorder - for a state in his country and another with a certain contempt for the community," he says.
Added to this is the fact, according to Jiménez, that the state of New Mexico is currently governed by a "very vocal" Democrat who also beat a Republican who was close to Trump. "I think that philias and phobias play an important role here," says the professor, who maintains that the president's messages are effective at the media level but that the problem is that they sometimes escalate to the rhetoric of confrontation and have diplomatic consequences.
"In the case of Canada, it has caused tensions to open the debate to many other issues and to justify some of its tariff actions," says Jiménez, who recalls that Ottawa has not only raised tariffs in reciprocity but has imposed a "clear geoeconomic policy of total distancing from the US." According to Jiménez, saying that Canada was just another US state greatly offended Canadians, who have boycotted some American products. Trump, for his part, banned the import of some Canadian products. According to a survey published by Time magazine, almost 70% of Canadians choose local products even if they are more expensive and 55% say they have stopped buying products from certain American brands.
Without any legal effect
Alberto Priego, director of the master's degree in International Affairs at the Universidad Pontificia de Comillas ICAI-ICADE, makes it clear that the fact that Trump changes the names of geographical features or says that Canada or any other country should be another state of the US has no legal effect. And remember that internally it is common for this to happen. Among them, the Persian Gulf stands out, named after Iran and called the Arabian Gulf by the countries on the southern shore, or the Sea of Japan, which China calls the East Sea. It even highlights that there are even countries that have changed their name, including the now called Republic of North Macedonia and Türkiye.
"There is no agreement regarding names. What happens when you rename an area only has effects for you internally because it does not imply a redistribution of rights, resources or the possibilities of crossing it. It is only a political position," says Priego, who considers that the message that Trump wants to project with this type of actions, which are "for the gallery", is more internal than external. "There is no way to establish names at a global level. We cannot say that it is the United Nations that says that there is a global registry of names. It is an identity issue," he says.
When asked if Trump's decisions to change the names of geographical features and maps can be understood as a way of projecting power at a geopolitical level, Priego maintains that it is the way the president understands he should do it but that in reality "it does not project anything." "Now he is very stagnant on the issue of Iran, he has centralized his actions in the Persian Gulf and is sinking Iranian oil tankers. But this is a kind of smokescreen that is going nowhere. I think he does this to silence criticism, because he said there would be no more wars and he is involved in several," says the expert, who considers that Trump "does many things without any kind of intention."
"Trump is an eccentric and impulsive character who does not take into account what may benefit him or whether his team agrees," says Priego, adding that this personality makes him have a tremendous effect on the world because "it destabilizes and punishes traditional allies." And he warns: "When Trump is over, the US is going to have to carry out a series of policies to reconfigure its image and its alliances. The US's reputation is in tatters and a bigger problem is that allies have begun to look for alternatives. Europe has done it because if one thing has become clear these years that Trump has been in power, it is that the US is not a reliable partner," he says.
