The President of Mexico mocks Trump with a map of “Mexican America” ​​after his proposal to change the name of “Gulf America.”

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum responded sarcastically on Wednesday to US President-elect Donald Trump’s proposal to change the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of Mexico. “America’s Gulf.”

Standing in front of a 17th-century world map at her daily news conference, Sheinbaum suggested renaming North America “Mexican America” or “Mexican America,” because the 1814 founding document that preceded Mexico’s constitution referred to it that way. .

“That sounds nice, doesn’t it?” She added in a sarcastic tone. She also noted that the Gulf of Mexico has been named that way since 1607.

Trump made these statements during an open press conference at Mar-a-Lago, in which he also participated Not ruled out Using military or economic coercion Greenland and the Panama Canal Under American control.

“We’re going to change the name of the Gulf of Mexico to America’s Gulf, which has a nice ring to it,” Trump said. “This covers a large area of ​​territory, the Gulf of America. What a beautiful name. And it’s appropriate. It’s appropriate. And Mexico needs to stop letting millions of people flood into our country.”

Trump ally Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia said she would submit legislation In this sense on Thursday morning.

This dialogue begins to answer a larger, lingering question about the bilateral relationship between the two regional powers: How will the newly elected Sheinbaum deal with Trump’s aggressive diplomatic approach, promises of mass deportations and crippling taxes on trading partners like Mexico?

Sheinbaum’s predecessor and political mentor Andrés Manuel López Obrador — who comes from a similar strain of class populism as Trump, despite his leanings to the left — was able to build a relationship with Trump as an ally, and his government began blocking migrants from heading north. Under pressure from the United States, which is a blessing for Trump.

But it was not clear whether Mexico’s first female president, a scholar and leftist who lacked the grassroots populism that brought López Obrador to power, would be able to build the same relationship.

While Wednesday’s joke quickly spread across social media, it also laid out what the relationship between Sheinbaum and Trump could look like in the coming years.

“Humor can be a good tactic, it shows strength, which is what Trump responds to,” said Brian Winter, vice president of the New York-based Council of the Americas. “Maybe that was the right choice in this case.” “Even though President Sheinbaum knows it won’t work out everything, Trump and his administration will demand Mexico’s serious engagement on major issues like immigration, drugs, and trade.”

This follows other tough but cooperative responses by Sheinbaum regarding Trump’s proposals.

on Trump intends to impose 25% tariffs Regarding Mexican imports, Sheinbaum warned that if the new US administration imposes tariffs on Mexico, its administration will respond with similar measures. She said any type of tax “is unacceptable and will cause inflation and job losses for the United States and Mexico.”

It has taken a more lenient tone on immigration, in line with years of Mexican efforts to prevent migrants from traveling north amid mounting pressure from the United States.

After initially saying that her government would pressure the Trump administration to deport migrants directly to their countries, she said in January that Mexico would be open to accepting deportees from other countries, but that Mexico could limit the matter to certain nationalities or seek compensation.

Canada also gave a Sarcastic response This week on Trump’s recent comments about annexing America’s northern neighbor. According to the Canadian CTV channela reporter questioned Ontario Premier Doug Ford on Monday about Trump’s multifaceted threats to Imposing customs duties of 25% on products coming from Canada and Mexico In the first hours of his presidency, as well as making Canada the “51st state.”

“You know what, I’m going to make him a counteroffer to the president. What if we buy Alaska, and we’ll buy Minnesota and Minneapolis at the same time,” Ford said.