The President of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum, commented sarcastically on the proposal of the newly elected US President, Donald Trump, that the Gulf of Mexico be renamed the Gulf of America.
Standing at her regular press conference next to a world map, Scheinbaum mockingly suggested that North America be renamed "Mexican America," as it is called in a founding document from 1814, which is the forerunner of Mexico's current Constitution.
"Sounds really nice, doesn't it?" she added in a sarcastic tone. She also said that the Gulf of Mexico has been called that since 1607.
Her reaction to Trump's statement could be seen as the beginning of an answer to a larger question hanging over the bilateral relations of the two neighbors and regional power: how the new Mexican president will deal with Trump's heavy-handed approach to diplomacy and his threats to deport migrants en masse back to Mexico and introduce huge tariffs of 25 percent on products from that country.
Claudia Scheinbaum's political mentor and her predecessor in office, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, inclined to a similar type of populism as Trump, even though he is basically a leftist, managed to maintain a relationship with Trump as an ally, and his government even began, under pressure from the US, to block illegal crossings migrants across the border of the northern neighbor.
However, it was not clear how Scheinbaum, the first female head of the Mexican state, a scientist and a leftist who lacks the sense of populism that made Lopez Obrador extremely popular and brought him to power, will deal with Trump.
Claudia Sheinbaum's joke quickly spread on social media, but it also set the tone for her possible relationship with Trump in the coming years.
"Humor can be a good tactic. It projects strength, and Trump responds to that. It was probably a good choice on this one, even though President Scheinbaum knows she won't get the job done on all fronts — the Trump administration will seek serious engagement from Mexico on major immigration issues, drug smuggling and trafficking," said Vice President of the Council of the Two Americas Brian Winter. This organization is based in New York.
The Mexican president's witty outburst came after her stern but cooperative statements regarding Trump's proposals.
Regarding tariffs, she said that if the Trump administration imposes them on Mexico, her administration will respond with the same measure, and that the tariffs "are not acceptable, because they will bring inflation and job losses to both the United States and Mexico."
She sounded more conciliatory on immigration, staying in line with earlier Mexican efforts to block migrants from traveling north.
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