Mexico’s president amused by Trump’s order to rename the Gulf of Mexico
MEXICO CITY (AP) 鈥 Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has an answer for U.S. President Donald Trump about his idea of renaming the Gulf of Mexico to the 鈥淕ulf of America:鈥 he can call it whatever he wants on the American part of it.
MEXICO CITY (AP) 鈥 Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has an answer for U.S. President Donald Trump about his idea of renaming the Gulf of Mexico to the 鈥淕ulf of America:鈥 he can call it whatever he wants on the American part of it.
Sheinbaum on Tuesday had been working through the raft of from Trump that relate to Mexico, emphasizing Mexico鈥檚 sovereignty and the need for dialogue, but when she got to the renaming of the Gulf of Mexico, she couldn鈥檛 help but laugh.
鈥淗e says that he will call it the Gulf of America on its continental shelf,鈥 Sheinbaum said. 鈥淔or us it is still the Gulf of Mexico, and for the entire world it is still the Gulf of Mexico.鈥
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Trump said in his inaugural address Monday that he will , an idea he first brought up earlier this month during a news conference.
Claudia Sheinbaum stressed Tuesday the need to keep 鈥渃ool heads鈥 and look at the wording of what U.S. President Donald Trump signs, rather than listen to the discourse surrounding it. (AP Video: Martin Silva and Ra煤l Mendoza / Jan. 21, 2025)
鈥淎 short time from now, we are going to be changing the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America,鈥 he said. Hours later he signed an Executive Order to do it.
Sheinbaum projected on a large screen at her daily press briefing Trump鈥檚 order called 鈥淩estoring Names that Honor American Greatness.鈥
The order says that within 30 days, the U.S. secretary of the interior will rename 鈥渢he U.S. Continental Shelf area bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the States of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida and extending to the seaward boundary with Mexico and Cuba.鈥
Americans and Mexicans diverge on what to call another key body of water, the river that forms the border between Texas and the Mexican states of Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo Leon and Tamaulipas. Americans call it the Rio Grande; Mexicans call it the Rio Bravo.
The first time Trump mentioned the idea of changing the name of the Gulf of Mexico, Sheinbaum suggesting instead renaming North America as 鈥淎m茅rica Mexicana鈥 or 鈥淢exican America.鈥
This time, she just briefly insisted: 鈥淔or us and for the entire world it will continue to be called the Gulf of Mexico.鈥
