Mexican president trolls Trump, suggests US renamed ‘Mexican America’

Claudia Sheinbaum sarcastically hit back at the president-elect’s controversial claims at a press conference.

Mexico’s president took a swipe at Donald Trump, over the president-elect’s vow to rename the Gulf of Mexico the “Gulf of America”.

At her press briefing on Wednesday morning, Claudia Sheinbaum stood in front of a 17th Century map showing North America as “Mexican America”.

“Why don’t we call it (the United States) Mexican America?” she said, noting that The Gulf of Mexico was the name recognised by the United Nations.

Sheinbaum said: “It sounds nice, doesn’t it?”

“He talked about name, we too are talking about the name,” she said, while assuring that she expected to have “good relations” with the incoming US president.

Mexico's President Claudia Sheinbaum responded to Trump's proposal in a press conference. Picture: Alfredo Estrella/AFP

The U.S. president-elect made the controversial comments about Mexico on Tuesday, saying the name change had “beautiful ring” to it as he spoke at a press conference at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach.

“That covers a lot of territory, The Gulf of America. What a beautiful name and it’s appropriate,” he said.

The incoming president has made threats to America’s neighbours, warning he will order “very serious tariffs” against Mexico and Canada over illegal border crossings.

“Mexico has to stop allowing millions of people to pour into our country,” he said.

“They can stop them, and we’re going to put very serious tariffs on Mexico and Canada, because Canada, they come through Canada too, and the drugs that are coming through are at record numbers,” he said.

Trump announced his plans to rename The Gulf of Mexico on Tuesday.

Trump has also spoken of the possibility of imposing tariffs on Greenland, an autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark.

He has refused to rule out using military force to gain control of the island and the neighbouring Panama Canal.

The president-elect has claimed the Panama Canal is “being operated by China” and demanded its return to US control during the Mar-a-Lago press conference.

“The Panama Canal was built for our military,” Trump said. “Look, the Panama Canal is vital to our country.”