Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum responded to President-elect Donald Trump‘s assertion that the Gulf of Mexico should be renamed the “Gulf of America.”
She jokingly said the continent of North America should be renamed “Mexican America” because an old Mexican constitution labeled North America by that moniker.
“I mean, obviously, ‘Gulf of Mexico,’ the name is recognized by the United Nations, an organism of the United Nations. But next, why don’t we call it ‘Mexican America’? It sounds nice, doesn’t it?” Sheinbaum said, pointing to a historical map projected on a screen.
“Since 1607,” Sheinbaum added, in an apparent reference to the map. “The Constitution of Apatzingán was for Mexican America, so we’re going to call it ‘Mexican America.’ It sounds nice, doesn’t it? And Gulf of Mexico, well, since 1607, and it’s also recognized internationally.”
The Constitution of Apatzingan was the first proposed founding document after Mexico declared independence from Spain in 1810. It called for Catholicism to be Mexico’s religion, among other things. However, it never went into effect due to the Mexican War of Independence.
The document referred to the country’s territory as “América Mexicana,” though that didn’t include the United States.
On Tuesday, Trump called the Gulf of Mexico the “Gulf of America” in an apparent effort to make an immigration point.
“We’re going to change because we do most of the work there, and it’s ours,” Trump said. “It’s appropriate, and Mexico has to stop allowing millions of people to pour into our country,” Trump said in a news conference.
Trump said the “Gulf of America” has a “beautiful ring” to it. It’s unlikely Trump has the power to change the name of the gulf, and even if he could, it’s very unlikely other countries would follow suit.
Nevertheless, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) said Tuesday that she would introduce legislation to rename the gulf. She said on a conservative influencer’s podcast she was “so fired up watching the press conference” that she directed her staff “to immediately draft legislation.”
The Washington Examiner reported that there’s “tons of interest” in being an original co-sponsor of the bill.
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Sheinbaum and Trump have clashed on immigration before. Trump has said he will levy a hefty tariff on the country unless it can control immigration and drugs coming into the U.S. Sheinbaum said the drugs primarily originate from China.
“So far, we have not found that precursors arrive because most of the precursors come from Asia and that the whole process is manufactured here in Mexico,” Sheinbaum said. “The laboratories that have been dismantled in our country are mainly for methamphetamine or crystal (meth).”