Mexico’s president has cheekily hit back at Donald Trump’s proposition to change the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America with her own idea: ‘América Mexicana’, or ‘Mexican America’.
In her daily press conference, Claudia Sheinbaum, who became the country’s first female president in June, made her counter-proposal regarding the name while standing before a world map from 1607, adding sarcastically, “that sounds nice, no?”
Her response comes after Trump said he had plans to rename the Gulf of Mexico as “the Gulf of America, which has a beautiful ring”.
“It’s appropriate,” he said. “And Mexico has to stop allowing millions of people to pour into our country.”
Commenting on her country’s historically fraught relationship with the US, Sheinbaum said she believes the bilateral partnership between the two regional powers is positive.
“I think there will be a good relationship,” she said. “President Trump has his way of communicating.”
Greenland is ‘not for sale’
Sheinbaum is the latest world leader to respond to Trump’s various bombastic threats. Earlier this week, Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen declared that “Greenland belongs to the Greenlanders”, adding that the island is “not for sale”.
Her comments came Trump refused to rule out using military or economic force to take the territory from Denmark.
“No, I can’t assure you on either of those two,” he said. “I’m not going to commit to that. It might be that we will have to do something.”
Trump also wrote on his Truth Social account that he was hearing “…the people of Greenland are ‘MAGA’”.
Trump’s son Donald Trump Jr touched down on the autonomous Danish territory on Tuesday.
“We need Greenland for national security purposes,” Trump said on Tuesday. “I’m talking about protecting the free world. You look at — you don’t even need binoculars — you look outside. You have China ships all over the place. You have Russian ships all over the place. We’re not letting that happen. We’re not letting it happen.”
Located between the US, Russia and Europe, the island is important for economic and defence purposes, and is also home to the US military’s northernmost base.
It’s not the first time Trump has showed interest in acquiring the arctic territory; during his first term as US president, he expressed an interest in buying the island. Late last year, Trump wrote in a social media post: “For purposes of national security and freedom throughout the World, the United States of America feels that the ownership and control of Greenland is an absolute necessity.”
But his 47-year old son’s visit this week was not official and Donald Trump Jr did not make plans to meet any government officials. According to the island’s permanent secretary for foreign affairs, Trump Jr.’s trip was only set to last four to five hours. Trump Jr also quashed the speculation of any US takeover by his father when he said on a podcast on Monday, “No, I am not buying Greenland.”
“Funny enough, I’m actually going on a very long personal day trip to Greenland,” he said.
Greenland is the world’s largest island and has a population of roughly 56,000 people. Wedged between the Atlantic Ocean and the Arctic Ocean, it has been under Denmark’s control since the 14th century and became a self-governing territory in 1979.
Shortly after Mette Frederiksen’s statement in response to Trump’s latest “mocked gambit” to acquire Greenland, Danish parliament member Aaja Chemnitz reiterated that Greenland “is not for sale” adding, “Greenland will never be for sale.”
World leaders are treating Trump’s threat seriously, especially when he announced on Tuesday at a news conference that he has not ruled out using military force to acquire Greenland.
France and Germany have issued statements defending Greenland’s territorial rights and advising against the threat of any military action.