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The White House is punishing the news agency.
The Associated Press will be restricted from accessing some White House events until they start using the new name for the Gulf of Mexico in their news coverage, Donald Trump said at a press conference at his Mar-a-Lago estate.
"I don't know what they're doing, but I'm just saying we won't let them into the events until they agree that this is the American Gulf," he said.
The President noted that the Associated Press refuses to comply with the law.
"Now the Gulf is called the American Gulf. It is no longer called the Mexican Gulf," he stressed, adding that the restrictions were also related to the AP's previous coverage of his and his administration's activities.
"Now the Associated Press, as you know, was very, very wrong about the election, Trump, attitudes toward Trump, and other things related to Trump, Republicans, and conservatives," the head of state explained, noting that he has the right to restrict access.
"They don't make concessions to us, and I don't think we should make any concessions to them. That's the way life is," Trump said.
Trump emphasized that legally, his administration changed the names of both the Gulf of Mexico — to the American — and the mountain peak in Alaska, which was previously called Denali and is now called McKinley.
The AP, which has been part of the White House media pool for more than 100 years, said in its editorial that "the agency will continue to use the bay's historic name while noting the change introduced by Trump."
The media explained this by saying that the Gulf has been called "Mexican" for over 400 years, and that other countries and international organizations are not obligated to recognize this change, as the Gulf is partially located in waters that do not belong to the United States.
At the same time, the agency recognized the McKinley name change because "the mountain is entirely within U.S. territory, and the president had the authority to make such a decision."
After that, media reporters were banned from the Oval Office at the White House and from attending some events attended by the US president. The ban was condemned by many journalists, and the White House Correspondents' Association called it a violation of the First Amendment and Trump's own free speech executive order.
The White House press service called the AP's actions lies and disinformation.
