Donald Trump claimed Google CEO Sundar Pichai rejected his proposal to rename the Atlantic Ocean because of the number of countries in the ocean. The president has previously pushed geographic name changes, including Lake Ontario.
Sundar Pichai reportedly pushed back because the Atlantic spans multiple countries
During a rally in South Carolina on Wednesday, Donald Trump said he called the Google CEO to ask about changing the ocean name in Google Maps, but Pichai declined his request.
Trump said he wants to change the name of two oceans, Atlantic and Pacific. He said, “I’m not going to put either Trump or America on any other ocean but these two.”
Google Maps previously changed the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America, and Lake Ontario to Lake America following the president’s executive order. Users in Canada and Mexico see original names, while the rest of the world’s users see original and Trump’s name.
He said, “I spoke to a brilliant guy, Sundar. He heads all of Google,” before praising him and Google cofounder Sergey Brin, calling them “totally brilliant guys.”
According to Business Insider, Trump joked that Brin and Pichai were “still rattled from the Gulf.” During the rally, Trump recalled how he presented the idea, saying, “Sundar, I’m thinking of the Atlantic Ocean. Can you handle it?”
Trump added, quoting Pichai‘s response, “No, no, no. This time I’m not doing it. Oceans are different, sir. They cover really a lot of countries. Please don’t ask us to do that.”
The president asked a question to the crowd, “Should I pass it?” Then he himself answered, “I think let’s keep it the Atlantic Ocean.”
This is not the first time he presented the idea; earlier, during the Tennessee rally in October, he said to rename the oceans as “Trump Ocean” or “Ocean of the Americas.”
Trump proposed other name changes in geographic locations, including Lake Ontario. He also called the Strait of Hormuz “Trump Strait.”
