The White House Correspondents' Association protested a decision by the White House on Tuesday to bar an Associated Press (AP) reporter from an event with US President Donald Trump over the news agency's decision to continue referring to the Gulf of Mexico.

Trump signed an executive order in January directing the Interior Secretary to change the name to the Gulf of America.

"The White House cannot dictate how news organisations report the news, nor should it penalise working journalists because it is unhappy with their editors' decisions," Eugene Daniels, president of the association, said on Tuesday in a statement posted on X.

"The move by the administration to bar a reporter from the Associated Press from an official event open to news coverage today is unacceptable," Daniels said.

AP Executive Editor Julie Pace said in a statement earlier that its reporter had been blocked from attending an Oval Office event after being informed by the White House it would be barred unless it aligned its editorial standards with Trump's order.

"It is alarming that the Trump administration would punish AP for its independent journalism," Pace said, adding that limiting access violated the First Amendment of the US Constitution guaranteeing freedom of the press.

The AP says in its stylebook that the Gulf of Mexico has carried that name for more than 400 years and, as a global news agency, the AP will refer to it by its original name while acknowledging the new name Trump has chosen.

Most news organisations, including Reuters, call it the Gulf of Mexico although, where relevant, Reuters style is to include the context about Trump's executive order. (Reuters)