Leaders in Mexico and Panama are hitting back at President Trump’s recent expansionist ideas, which include buying Greenland, retaking the Panama Canal, using ‘economic force’ to maybe merge with Canada, and slapping tariffs on Mexican exports. The president-elect has so far won broad support from his fellow Republicans for his musings. 

On Wednesday, the leader of Mexico, President Sheinbaum, addressed reporters just one day after Trump said he will push to rename the Golf of Mexico as “the Gulf of America.” Ms. Sheinbaum addressed reporters while standing in front of an old map showing much of what is now America labeled as “Mexican America” in Spanish. “

Why don’t we call it Mexican America? It sounds pretty, no?” Ms. Sheinbaum said with a smile. 

Trump has already had one phone call with Ms. Sheinbaum following his election and his threat to impose 25 percent tariffs on exports to America from her country. He said that the phone call went well and that he enjoyed his conversation with the Mexican leader, though he did not rescind his original threat to slap them with tariffs. 

Beyond those economic threats and promise to rename the Gulf, Mexican leaders are reportedly concerned that Trump may actually order airstrikes on the Mexican cartels on Mexican territory, according to the Wall Street Journal. He promised to designate the drug smugglers and human traffickers as terrorists once he returns to the Oval Office. 

“In Mexico, the people rule,” Ms. Sheinbaum said Wednesday. “Wwe are going to collaborate and understand each other with the government of President Trump, I am sure of it, defending our sovereignty as a free, independent and sovereign country.

Ms. Sheinbaum wasn’t the only North American leader to criticize Trump in the past 24 hours. Prime Minister Trudeau, who will soon leave office, said on Tuesday that there “isn’t a snowball’s chance in hell” that Canada would ever become an American state. 

The head of the Panama Canal Authority also warned Wednesday that Trump’s desires for new American territories will lead to “chaos.”

In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Ricuarte Morales, who had been the administrator of the Canal since 2019, said Trump’s claims that Communist China is getting favorable treatment by the Panamanians and that American ships were somehow being punished with high fees are not true. 

“The accusations that China is running the Canal are unfounded,” Mr. Morales said. “China has no involvement whatsoever in our operations.”

“Rules are rules and there are no exceptions,” Mr. Morales added. “We cannot discriminate for the Chinese, or the Americans, or anyone else. This will violate the neutrality treaty, international law and it will lead to chaos.”

Trump’s plans are already winning support from Republican members of Congress. Senator Cornyn told the Sun with a laugh on Tuesday that he would be fine with renaming the Gulf of Mexico. Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene introduced a bill on Wednesday morning — less than 24 hours after Trump’s announcement — that would designate the area as the “Gulf of America.”

It isn’t just conservative lawmakers who are backing the plans. Congressman Dusty Johnson, who leads the moderate Republican Main Street Partnership, introduced legislation on Wednesday “To authorize the President to enter into negotiations for the reacquisition of the Panama Canal from the Republic of Panama for the symbolic amount of $1.”