Your guide to what the 2024 US election means for Washington and the world
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.
In December, Ford launched a multimillion-dollar advertising campaign promoting Ontario’s economic and cultural links with the US in an effort to counter Trump’s antagonism against Canada.
Melanie Joly, Canada’s foreign minister, said Trump’s comments “show 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 somewhat 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 on the phone and have avoided making derogatory comments about each other in public.
Her government is preparing for mass deportations of Mexicans and possibly citizens of other countries across its northern border, as well as pressure for more US involvement in tackling drug cartels, in addition to a possible trade war.
US-born Republican supporter, Georganne Burke, a partner at the Ottawa-based Pathway Group, a conservative lobbyist firm, said Trump knows neither Canada nor Mexico intend to give up their sovereignty.
“He’s been trolling Canadians but I think the overreaction has not been warranted,” she said.
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Publish date : 2025-01-08 04:53:00
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