(NEXSTAR) — Among the nearly 200 executive orders President Donald Trump plans to sign on his first day in office is a proclamation returning the name of 25th President William McKinley to an Alaskan mountain.
Ahead of Monday's Inauguration, it was revealed that President Trump plans to sign an order renaming Denali to Mount McKinley (and also renaming the Gulf of Mexico).
Why is renaming an Alaskan mountain peak at the top of President Trump's first day priority list?
It appears to be a nod to President McKinley's admiration.
In 2015, President Barack Obama bestowed Denali's name on the continent's largest mountain, a step taken to recognize “Denali's sacred status to generations of Alaska Natives.”
At the time, President Trump criticized the decision, write on twitter (Now known as X) “President Obama wants to change the name of Mt. McKinley to Denali after over 100 years. A huge insult to the state of Ohio. I will change it back!”
He then vowed to return it to McKinley during his first term as president. Member of Congress representing Alaska Denali long resisted becoming McKinley again.. No name changes were made during President Trump's first term.
On Monday, he renewed his vow to restore the McKinley name, saying during his inauguration: “We will restore the name of our great president, William McKinley, to Mount McKinley, where it belongs.” .
Trump went on to call McKinley a man who “made our country so rich through tariffs and talent.” Trump went on to call him a “natural businessman” who “financed many great things for President Teddy Roosevelt, including the Panama Canal.”
Trump, himself a former businessman, has emphasized tariffs and filling the Panama Canal in recent weeks.
In 1890, McKinley, then a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Ohio, led the effort to pass a tariff bill before the Ways and Means Committee, which he chaired. The bill, known as the McKinley Tariffs, increased “protective tariff rates on many U.S. products by an average of nearly 50 percent,” the report said. report From the history, art, and archives of the U.S. House of Representatives.
Taxation rates on foreign goods have risen 'dramatically', pushing up the prices of many goods, the Tax Foundation says explain. Some items, such as coffee and sugar, were on the “free list.”
While campaigning in Michigan in September 2024, President Trump told an audience that the United States was “probably the richest we've ever been because of the tariff system.”
The tariffs, which became law under then-President Benjamin Harrison, were seen as “favors to wealthy businessmen,” and Republicans lost more than 90 seats in that fall's election, according to a House report.
Mr. McKinley appears to have been unscathed in this matter, despite the tariff bearing his name. During the 1896 presidential campaign, McKinley famously said in the New York Times, “I am a customs agent on a tariff platform.” report.
Trump appeared to repeat this statement in 2018, writing: Twitterthat he is a “customs officer.”
McKinley's biographer Robert Melley once said: Yahoo Finance McKinley said he realized during his presidency that tariffs had their limits and that the United States needed to improve the flow of goods with its global trading partners. McKinley was assassinated in 1901 (his vice president, Theodore Roosevelt, became the 26th US president), and the US was seeing much lower tariffs until Trump was elected president in 2016. .
Renaming Denali is one of President Trump's first day priorities, but tariffs are not.
According to Associated PressPresident Trump has held off on imposing tariffs for now, but is expected to sign orders targeting energy prices and inflation.
So can President Trump really change Denali's name?
Using the same path as Mr. Obama, he could use Interior Secretary Sally Jewell's authority to change the mountain's name.
Since Denali is within the borders of the United States, it can be a relatively easy process. But renaming the Gulf of Mexico could be even more complicated.
