Trump doubles down on restricting news agency AP over ‘Gulf of America’ spat

PALM BEACH, Florida – US President Donald Trump said on Feb 18 he will keep restricting Associated Press (AP) access to the White House until the news agency obeys his order to

rename the Gulf of Mexico as the “Gulf of America”.

“We’re going to keep them out until such time as they agree that it’s the Gulf of America,” Mr Trump told reporters at his estate in Florida.

The White House has blocked AP journalists from Air Force One and the Oval Office, arguing that the agency was ignoring a lawful name change.

“The Associated Press just refuses to go with what the law is,” Mr Trump said on Feb 18. “It’s called the Gulf of America now. It’s not called the Gulf of Mexico any longer,” he continued.

AP editor-in-chief Julie Pace has called the administration’s stance a “plain violation” of AP’s protected free speech rights and “an incredible disservice to the billions of people who rely on The Associated Press for non-partisan news”.

In a style note in January, AP noted that “the Gulf of Mexico has carried that name for more than 400 years” and said Mr Trump’s executive order “only carries authority within the United States”.

Mr Trump’s leveraging press access against news media underscores

the Republican’s longstanding animosity towards traditional news outlets

, which he accuses of bias against him.

The White House Correspondents’ Association has called AP’s exclusion from Trump events “outrageous”.

“The attempted government censorship of a free press risks a chilling effect on journalists doing their job without fear or favour on behalf of the American people,” the group’s president Eugene Daniels said in a statement. AFP