Mexico and Donald Trump have a history and his views have clashed with Mexico over several issues, including border security and the imposition of tariffs on imported goods. He had earlier sworn to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border and make Mexico pay for it. Ultimately, U.S. construction crews worked swiftly to finish Donald Trump’s wall at an iconic cross-border park overlooking the Pacific Ocean. This park, inaugurated in 1971 by then-First Lady Pat Nixon as a symbol of international friendship, saw the wall completed in 2023, just days before Joe Biden became president.
In recent news, Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo replied sarcastically to U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s proposal to rename the ‘Gulf of Mexico’ the ‘Gulf of America’. According to AP News, Trump stated on Tuesday that he would pursue renaming the Gulf of Mexico the “Gulf of America,” claiming the name had a “beautiful ring to it.”
En este mapa que presento de 1607, América del Norte es llamada América Mexicana, que es el mismo título que tiene la Constitución de Apatzingán. pic.twitter.com/BwtHDxYhdn
— Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo (@Claudiashein) January 9, 2025
In response, Claudia Sheinbaum, standing before a global map during her daily press briefing, proposed with a dry sense of humor that North America should be renamed “América Mexicana” or “Mexican America,” referencing a founding document from 1814 that predated Mexico’s constitution that used the term. “That sounds nice, doesn’t it?” she added with an indirect jab at Trump. She also pointed out that the Gulf of Mexico has held its name since 1607.
This exchange of remarks between the two leaders began during President Re-elect Donald Trump’s first run for the White House in 2016. Another cultural clash between the two countries revolves around the Gulf of Mexico. The body of water has been represented with that name for more than four centuries, an original determination believed to have been taken from a Native American city named “Mexico.” Besides, Americans and Mexicans diverge on another pivotal body of water—the river that forms the border between Texas and the Mexican states of Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo León, and Tamaulipas. Americans call it the Rio Grande, while Mexicans call it the Rio Bravo.
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Additionally, netizens ponder whether newly elected Claudia Sheinbaum can handle Donald Trump’s radical assertiveness as he is ready to return to office in 2025. While Sheinbaum’s predecessor and political mentor, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, was able to build a relationship with Donald Trump and his team as an ally to work on several issues like crippling taxes in trading, immigration issues, and many others.
The recent exchange of humorous jabs between the two puts into question what type of relationship Claudia Sheinbaum and Donald Trump will build in the future. Knowing Trump, his political image is mostly like a ship navigating through media relevance, constant scrutiny, online jabs, and controversy.
As per BPS News, Brian Winter, Vice President of the New York-based Council of the Americas, commented on this and said, “Humor can be a good tactic; it projects strength, which is what Trump responds to. It was probably the right choice on this issue.” He further added, “Although President Sheinbaum knows it won’t work on everything—Trump and his administration will demand serious engagement from Mexico on the big issues of immigration, drugs, and trade.” Let’s wait and find out whether this newfound collaboration turns out to be a hit or a miss between the world’s two most popular nations.