Mexico’s president tells Trump it’s the U.S. that should be renamed in jab at ‘Gulf of America’ plans
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum poked fun at President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday in response to his plan to change the name of the Gulf of Mexico to ‘Gulf of America.’
Sheinbaum pointed to a map dating back to the 1600s which showed an early portrayal of North America with the name ‘Mexican America’ which had once been used for the region.
‘Mexican America, that sounds nice,’ Sheinbaum said.
She made her comments in response to the 78-year-old president-elect during a press conference in Mexico City one day after Trump announced he wants to rename the body of water.
‘We’ll be changing the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America, which has a beautiful ring,’ Trump hold reporters in Florida.
‘That covers a lot of territory. The Gulf of America. What a beautiful name. It is appropriate. It’s appropriate,’ he insisted.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum shows a world map from the 1600s that shows North America during her press conference in Mexico City on January 8 after Trump says he wants to change the name of the Gulf of Mexico to ‘Gulf of America’
During her press conference on Wednesday, Sheinbaum was joined by cultural adviser Alfonso Suarez del Real who took the time to explain the backstory on the Mexican America name.
‘The fact is that Mexican America is recognized since the 17th century… as the name for the whole northern part of the continent,’ Suarez del Real said.
He added that the Gulf of Mexico’s name was internationally recognized and used as a navigational reference for hundreds of years.
Mexico’s presidential adviser Alfonso Suarez del Real explaining the Gulf of Mexico was named through a constitutional decree during a press conference in Mexico City after Trump said he wanted to rename it ‘Gulf of America’
Trump announced he wants to change the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the ‘Gulf of America’
Trump added he wants to change the name of the Gulf of Mexico (sea on the right) to the ‘Gulf of America’. He added it was a ‘beautiful name’
Sheinbaum’s jab at Trump was not the first time she’s gone head-to-head with the president-elect as he prepares to return to office in less than two weeks.
After the president-elect threatened tariffs on Mexico last year and claimed the neighboring country was not doing enough to stop the flow of drugs and immigrants across the southern border, Sheinbaum wrote a fiery letter in response.
In it she blasted Trump for perhaps being unaware of the actions Mexico has already been taking to stem the flow of migrants toward the U.S. border.
She also threatened that Mexico would respond with tariffs of its own if the U.S. slapped 25 percent tariffs on imports from Mexico.
After Trump announced his plan to rename the Gulf of Mexico, Republican lawmakers signaled their support for the move.
His hard-right ally Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene announced she would introduce a bill in Congress to change the Gulf of Mexico’s name.
