Mexico City: Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum on Tuesday pledged to defend the country’s independence and sovereignty in the wake of U.S. President Donald Trump’s executive order to change the name of Gulf of Mexico to Gulf of America.
“For us, it is still the Gulf of Mexico, as it is for the rest of the world,” Sheinbaum told reporters during a press conference at the National Palace in Mexico City.
She began the conference by stressing her commitment to defending the independence and sovereignty of the country, saying “it is one of the highest principles that the president must fulfill.”
Trump signed a flurry of executive orders on the first day of his second term and Sheinbaum referred to five that directly target Mexico, including designating Mexican drug cartels “terrorist organizations” and declaring a national emergency on the U.S. southern border.
It is important to keep a “cool head” amid the many changes the U.S. president is making, she said.
Regarding the national emergency declared along the Mexico-U.S. border, Sheinbaum said that the measure is not new but reinstated what former U.S. President Joe Biden repealed in 2021.
Trump also reinstated the Migrant Protection Protocols, better known as “Remain in Mexico,” an immigration scheme he launched by an executive order in December 2018 during his first term in office.
The policy forces asylum seekers to stay in Mexico while their applications are being processed by U.S. authorities.
Trump has also announced plans to mobilize troops along the border with Mexico and to review all trade agreements.
UNI XINHUA
