Claudia Sheinbaum on Wednesday hit back at US president-elect Donald Trump’s proposal to rename the Gulf of Mexico, suggesting US territory that was previously part of Mexico should be called “Mexican America”.
The Mexican president’s comments came after Trump on Tuesday called for the Gulf of Mexico to be renamed the “Gulf of America” and for Canada to become a US state in remarks that risked undermining one of the world’s largest trade blocs.
Trump’s proposals came during a freewheeling press conference, in which he also refused to rule out using force to obtain Greenland or take control of the Panama Canal.
The president-elect, who takes office in less than two weeks, has threatened to impose 25 per cent tariffs on all imports from Mexico and Canada unless his neighbours do more to stop migrants and drugs crossing its two borders — despite the three-nation trade block’s free trade agreement, the USMCA.
In her morning news conference on Wednesday Sheinbaum noted a chunk of US territory, including California and Texas, were part of the Spanish empire and later independent Mexico until it ceded the land to Washington in 19th century.
“We’re going to call it ‘Mexican America’, it sounds nice doesn’t it?” she told reporters, displaying a colonial-era map of the region from 1607.
The leaders of Mexico and Canada are grappling 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 at the end of November after threat of tariffs was first mooted, said “there was a snowball’s chance in hell” of his country becoming part of the US.
Earlier in the week, the Conservative premier of Ontario Doug Ford, made Trump a “counter-offer” to buy Alaska and Minnesota, two US states that share borders with Canada.
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