Mexican president pledges to defend independence, sovereignty

MEXICO CITY - Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum on Tuesday pledged to defend the country's independence and sovereignty in the wake of US President Donald Trump's executive order to change the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America.

"For us, it is still the Gulf of Mexico, as it is for the rest of the world," Sheinbaum told reporters at a regular press conference.

Sheinbaum clarified that the order Trump signed on Monday will only apply to the United States.

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 as terrorist groups and declaring a national emergency on the US southern border.

It is important to keep a "cool head" amid the many changes the incoming president is making, she said.

Regarding the national emergency declared along the Mexico-US border, Sheinbaum said the measure was not new but reinstated what former US president Joe Biden repealed in 2021.