Mexico’s President Sheinbaum offers sarcastic response to Trump’s ‘Gulf of America’ comment

MEXICO CITY — Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum responded sarcastically on Wednesday to U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s proposal to change the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America. The exchange has started to answer a larger question lingering over the bilateral relationship between the two regional powers: How would newly elected Sheinbaum handle Trump’s strong-handed diplomatic approach, and promises of mass-deportations and crippling taxes on trading partners like Mexico? On Trump’s pitch to slap 25% tariffs on Mexican imports, Sheinbaum warned that if the new U.S. administration imposes tariffs on Mexico, her administration would respond with similar measures. She said any sort of tax was “not acceptable and would cause inflation and job losses for the United States and Mexico.” She’s taken a more concessionary tone on immigration, falling in line with years of Mexican efforts to block migrants from traveling north amid mounting pressure by the U.S. After originally saying her government would push the Trump administration to deport migrants directly back to their own countries, in January she said Mexico would be open to accepting deportees from other countries, but Mexico could limit it to certain nationalities or request compensation.