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Claudia Sheinbaum on Wednesday hit back at US President-elect Donald Trump’s proposal to rename the Gulf of Mexico, suggesting that the US territory that was formerly part of Mexico should be called “Mexican America”.
The Mexican president The comments came after Trump on Tuesday called for The Gulf of Mexico will be renamed “The American Gulf” and for Canada to become an American state in remarks that risked undermining one of the world’s largest trading blocs.
Trump’s suggestions came during a freewheeling press conference, where he also refused to rule out the use of force to obtain it Greenland or take control of the Panama Canal.
The president-elect, who takes office in less than two weeks, has threatened to impose tariffs of 25 percent on all imports from Mexico and Canada if his neighbors do not do more to stop migrants and drugs crossing the two borders – despite trade between the three countries of the bloc’s agreement on free trade, USMCA.
At her Wednesday morning news conference, Sheinbaum noted that part of the US territory, including California and Texas, was part of the Spanish Empire and later independent Mexico until it ceded the land to Washington in the 19th century.
“We’ll call it ‘Mexican America,’ sounds nice, doesn’t it?” she told reporters, showing a 1607 colonial-era map of the region.
The leaders of Mexico and Canada are struggling with how best to respond to Trump’s increasingly aggressive rhetoric against their countries without alienating their domestic audiences.
Justin Trudeau, Canada’s prime minister, who flew to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort for dinner in late November after the tariff threat was first raised, said there was “a good chance” his country would become part of the US. .
Earlier this week, Ontario’s conservative Premier Doug Ford made a “counteroffer” to Trump to buy Alaska and Minnesota, two US states that border Canada.
In December Ford launched a multi-million dollar ad campaign promoting Ontario’s economic and cultural ties to the US in an attempt to counter Trump’s antagonism against Canada.
Melanie Joly, Canada’s foreign affairs minister, said Trump’s comments “demonstrate a complete lack of understanding of what makes Canada a strong country.” “We will never back down in the face of threats,” she said on X.
Sheinbaum, a left-wing leader who took office in October, has taken a slightly more combative approach to Trump than other world leaders since he won the US election. She initially hinted at retaliatory tariffs against Washington, though the two have since spoken by phone and avoided making derogatory comments about each other in public.
Her government is bracing for mass deportations of Mexicans and possibly citizens of other countries across its northern border, as well as pushing for greater US involvement in the fight against drug cartels, along with a possible trade war.
U.S.-born Republican supporter Georganne Burke, a partner at the Ottawa-based conservative lobbying firm Pathway Group, said Trump knows that neither Canada nor Mexico are about to give up their sovereignty.
“He was trolling Canadians, but I don’t think the overreaction was warranted,” she said.
