MEXICO CITY (AP)— Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum responded sarcastically on Wednesday to US President-elect Donald Trump’s plan to rename the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America. Standing in front of a globe map at her daily news briefing, Sheinbaum recommended dryly that North America be renamed “América Mexicana,” or “Mexican America,” after a founding document from 1814 that precedes Mexico’s constitution. “That sounds nice, no?” She added in a snarky tone. She also mentioned that the Gulf of Mexico has been titled this way since 1607. The conversation has begun to answer a broader question about the bilateral relationship between the two regional powers: How would newly elected Sheinbaum deal with Trump’s strong-handed diplomatic approach? and promises of mass-deportations and crippling taxes on trading partners like Mexico?

Sheinbaum’s predecessor and political mentor, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who hailed from a similar strain of class populism as Trump, despite leaning left, was able to build a relationship with Trump as an ally, and his government began to block migrants from heading north under US pressure, which benefited Trump. But it was unclear if Mexico’s first female president, a scientist and Marxist who lacked the folksy populism that propelled López Obrador to prominence, would be able to maintain the same bond. While Wednesday’s joke instantly spread on social media, it also set the tone for what a Sheinbaum-Trump relationship would look like in the future. “Humour can be an effective technique because it conveys strength, which Trump responds to.It was probably the right choice on this issue,” said Brian Winter, vice president of the New York-based Council of the Americas. “Although President Sheinbaum knows it won’t work on everything — Trump and his administration will demand serious engagement from Mexico on the big issues of immigration, drugs and trade.”

Sheinbaum has previously issued strong but collaborative reactions to Trump’s ideas. Regarding Trump’s proposal to impose 25% tariffs on Mexican imports, Sheinbaum warned that if the next US administration imposes tariffs on Mexico, her administration will reply with comparable measures. She stated that any tax was “not acceptable and would cause inflation and job losses for the United States and Mexico.” She has taken a more concessionary stance on immigration, along with years of Mexican efforts to prevent migrants from travelling north amid rising pressure from the United States. After initially claiming her government would press the Trump administration to deport migrants directly back to their own countries, she stated in January that Mexico would be open to taking deportees from other 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.