The President of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum, responded on Monday with a strong message following a post by Trump on Truth Social, in which he shared a map of North America and the Caribbean featuring the American flag over Mexico, Canada, Greenland, Iceland, and several Caribbean islands, including Cuba.
Taking advantage of the month of Mexico's Independence, Sheinbaum posted on X a message that surpassed a million views within a few hours:
"In this month of our homeland, we reaffirm that Mexico is and will never be a colony or protectorate of any foreign country. Proudly, we are a free, independent, and sovereign nation."
The post accumulated 40,327 likes and over 2,500 comments in just a few hours. At the time of this report, the White House had not issued any response.
In May 2026, in response to a request for extradition from the U.S. Department of Justice, Sheinbaum had already stated: “We are not a protectorate or colony of the United States... we see ourselves as equals.”
On Saturday, during an event in Monterrey, he emphasized his stance with another characteristic phrase of his administration: "Cooperation always, subordination never."
The response this Monday, intentionally framed within the month of Mexico's Independence—whose central date is September 16—returns to a formula that Sheinbaum has repeated since the beginning of Trump's second term: "Mexico is nobody's colony, it is nobody's protectorate."
The map that triggered the response
On Sunday night, Trump shared an image without text or explanation on Truth Social.
The territory from Mexico to Canada appeared covered in red and white stripes, with a blue field featuring more stars than the actual U.S. flag in the northern region. Both the Gulf of Mexico and the Gulf of California were labeled as "Gulf of America."
The post arrived hours after Trump suggested renaming the state of New Mexico to "New America", with the word "Mexico" crossed out in red in an image also circulated by the White House.
Trump cannot unilaterally change the name of a state by decree.
Trump's provocations towards Mexico
The episode adds to a series of statements made by Trump about Mexico. On Friday, September 4, from the Oval Office, the president openly questioned the value of the trade relationship between the two countries:
"If we stopped trading with them, we wouldn't lose anything. It would only take a single signature. We lose $195 billion a year with Mexico. They have nothing that we actually need. I mean, they have spicy tamales, tomatoes, a couple of things... but, basically, they have nothing that we need."
In the same Oval Office, however, he clarified his words when referring directly to Sheinbaum: “I don't want to do that because we get along very well with the president. We like the president, we respect her very much.”
Rhetorical firmness, practical cooperation
Despite the harshness of the public exchange, Sheinbaum has maintained what analysts describe as a "cool-headed" strategy toward Trump, combining public responses defending Mexican sovereignty with bilateral cooperation on key issues.
Between February 2025 and January 2026, your government extradited to the U.S. 92 Mexican drug traffickers as part of bilateral cooperation on security.
In January 2025, just hours after taking office, Trump announced that he planned to impose a 25% tariff on Mexico.
After a phone call, Sheinbaum was able to suspend the measure for 30 days in exchange for deploying 10,000 members of the National Guard to the northern border.
Cuba, Venezuela, and Canada: Other Similar Controversies
Mexico is not the only country that has appeared in this type of messages and representations circulated by Trump. The map published on Sunday also includes Cuba among the territories covered by the American flag, consistent with previous statements made by the president about the island.
In May 2026, Trump stated that the U.S. could “take Cuba almost immediately”, and in July he claimed that the island “is coming towards us.”
Venezuela has also been the subject of similar imagery. On August 1st, Trump shared a map of Venezuela covered with the American flag accompanied by the caption "State 51."
Controversies have also spread to Canada.
In August 2026, Trump signed an executive order to rename the Ontario lake as "Lake America", a move rejected by Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney: "[Lake Ontario] is called Lake Ontario and it will continue to be called that today and forever."
References to Cuba, Venezuela, and Canada thus place the episode with Mexico within a broader pattern of statements, maps, and renaming proposals that Trump has used to generate controversy in various countries across the continent.
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