Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum responded sarcastically on Wednesday to US President-elect Donald Trump’s proposal to change the name of the Gulf of Mexico to “Gulf of America.”
In front of a 17th-century world map at his daily press briefing, Sheinbaum dryly proposed that North America be renamed “América Mexicana” or “Mexican America,” because a founding document dating from 1814 predated the constitution Mexican was referring to it. .
“Sounds nice, right?” she added sarcastically. She also noted that the Gulf of Mexico has had that name since 1607.
ALFREDO ESTRELLA/AFP via Getty Images
Trump made the comments during an open press conference at Mar-a-Lago during which he also did not exclude resort to military or economic coercion to bring Greenland and the Panama Canal under American control.
“We’re going to change the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America, which has a beautiful ring,” Trump said. “It covers a lot of territory, the Gulf of America. What a great name. And it’s appropriate. It’s appropriate. And Mexico needs to stop allowing millions of people to flood into our country.”
Trump ally Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia said she would run legislation for this purpose Thursday morning.
The exchange began to answer a larger question looming over bilateral relations between the two regional powers: how the newly elected Sheinbaum would handle Trump’s heavy-handed diplomatic approach, as well as promises of mass expulsions and of crippling taxes imposed on trading partners like Mexico?
Sheinbaum’s predecessor and political mentor, Andrés Manuel López Obrador – who came from a similar strain of class populism to Trump’s, even though he leaned left – managed to build a relationship with Trump as ally, and his government began preventing migrants from heading north. under American pressure, a boon for Trump.
But he wasn’t sure whether Mexico’s first female president, a scientist and leftist lacking the grassroots populism that propelled López Obrador to power, would be able to build the same relationship.
While Wednesday’s joke quickly ricocheted across social media, it also set the tone for what a Sheinbaum-Trump relationship might look like in years to come.
“Humor can be a good tactic, it projects strength, and that’s what Trump is responding to. It was probably the right call on this issue,” said Brian Winter, vice president of the Council of the Americas , based in New York. “Even though President Sheinbaum knows it won’t work on everything, Trump and his administration will demand serious engagement from Mexico on the big issues of immigration, drugs and trade.”
This follows other harsh but collaborative responses from Sheinbaum regarding Trump’s proposals.
On Trump proposes imposing 25% tariffs Regarding Mexican imports, Sheinbaum warned that if the new U.S. administration imposed tariffs on Mexico, his administration would respond with similar measures. She said any form of tax was “unacceptable and would lead to inflation and job losses in the United States and Mexico.”
She took a more concessional tone on immigration, continuing years of Mexican efforts to prevent migrants from traveling north in the face of growing pressure from the United States.
After initially saying her government would push the Trump administration to expel migrants directly to their own countries, she said in January that Mexico would be open to accepting expulsions from other countries, but that Mexico could limit it to certain nationalities or request compensation.
Canada also gave a sarcastic response this week to Trump’s recent comments on the annexation of America’s northern neighbor. According to CTV News from CanadaOntario Premier Doug Ford was asked by a reporter Monday about Trump’s multi-pronged threats against impose a 25% tariff on products from Canada and Mexico in the first hours of his presidency, in addition to making Canada the “51st State”.
“You know something, I’m going to make him a counteroffer to the president. How about we buy Alaska and add Minnesota and Minneapolis at the same time,” Ford said.
