The U.S. president Donald Trump published this Monday on his Truth Social account a map of North America and the Caribbean with the U.S. flag superimposed over the entire territory, including Cuba, Canada, Mexico, Greenland, and various areas of Central America and the Caribbean.
The map features the caption "UNITED STATES OF AMERICA" in the center and uses the name "GULF OF AMERICA" instead of Gulf of Mexico. The post, made at 10:43 AM Eastern Time (4:43 PM in Cuba), did not include any explanatory text or formal political proposal, and within just a few hours, it accumulated over 1,540 retruths and 6,260 likes.
The image does not constitute a legal act or a formal proposal for foreign policy, but it fits into a pattern of expansionist publications that Trump has maintained throughout 2026, which has generated reactions across the region.
One day earlier, on Sunday, Trump had already published another picture in which he renamed the state of New Mexico as "New America", with the word "Mexico" crossed out and replaced by "America," arguing that "many people" had suggested the change and that the new name would be "more prestigious and beautiful."
However, Trump lacks constitutional authority to unilaterally change the name of a state by decree.
The map for this Monday also reflects some geographical changes that the Trump administration has officially managed to impose for federal use.
In January 2025, he ordered the renaming of the Gulf of Mexico to "Gulf of America", a name that has already been incorporated into the country's official geographic databases and is visible on the map published this Monday. Last August 27, he signed an executive order renaming Lake Ontario as "Lake America," a change that Google and Apple already reflect for U.S. users, although Canada and international usage maintain the original name. He also officially restored the name "Mount McKinley" for North America's highest mountain, although the national park continues to be called Denali.
Regarding Cuba, the map from this Monday is not an isolated gesture. In May, Trump stated that the United States could “take Cuba almost immediately” and that the island was “completely devastated,” adding that it would be “an honor to liberate it”. In June, he promised to address Cuba after resolving the crisis with Iran, and on July 1, during the inauguration of the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library in North Dakota, he claimed that Cuba “is coming towards us” and “is getting closer to our orbit.”
The expansionist map pattern on Truth Social also includes a map of Venezuela draped with the American flag and the caption “State 51”, published on August 1, weeks after Trump declared on Fox that he was “seriously considering” making Venezuela a new state.
None of these posts have legal backing nor represent a formal proposal. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and Ontario Premier Doug Ford have already rejected the name change for Lake Ontario, stating that Canada will continue to refer to it as Lake Ontario.
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