Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum on Wednesday proposed renaming North America, including the United States, “Mexican America” - the historical name used on an early map of the region - in response to U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's pledge to rename the Gulf of Mexico “Gulf of America,” reports UNN citing Reuters.
“Mexican America, that sounds good,” Sheinbaum joked, pointing to a map from 1607 that showed an early depiction of North America.
Mexico's president used her daily press conference to give a history lesson surrounded by old maps and former culture minister Jose Alfonso Suarez del Real.
“The fact is that Mexican America has been recognized since the 17th century ... as the name of the entire northern part of the (American) continent,” Suarez del Real said, showing the area on a map.
Regarding the Gulf of Mexico, Suarez del Real said the name was internationally recognized and had been used as a nautical navigational reference point for hundreds of years.
Трамп хочет переименовать Мексиканский залив в "Залив Америки"07.01.2025, 19:27
Trump floated the idea of renaming the body of water, which stretches from Florida to Mexico's Cancun, at a news conference Tuesday in which he unveiled a broad expansionist agenda, including the possibility of taking control of the Panama Canal and Greenland.
Sheinbaum also said it's not true that Mexico is “run by cartels,” as Trump said. “In Mexico, everything is run by the people,” she said, adding that ”we are addressing the security issue.
Despite the altercation, Sheinbaum reiterated that she expects a positive relationship between the two countries.
“I think there will be a good relationship,” she said. “President Trump has his own way of communicating.