Mexico City, Mexico (AFP)- Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum congratulated her US counterpart Donald Trump on taking office Monday, while calling for dialogue and “respect” between the closely connected countries.

“On behalf of the government of Mexico, I congratulate Donald Trump on his inauguration as the 47th president of the United States of America. As neighbors and business partners, dialogue, respect and cooperation will always be the symbol of our relationship,” she wrote on X.

The remarks came after Trump announced in his inaugural speech that he would declare a national emergency at the US-Mexico border and begin the process of deporting “millions and millions of criminal aliens.”

Sheinbaum said earlier Monday that her government was prepared to receive Mexicans expelled by the United States, without clarifying if it would also accept foreigners.

“To our countrymen and women, I say that, first, you are not alone; and, second, that we must also remain calm and see how the process develops,” the leftwing leader said.

Trump’s pledges also included designating drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations and renaming the Gulf of Mexico the “Gulf of America.”

Despite having previously threatened 25-percent tariffs on Mexican goods, he did not immediately announce specific measures in his inaugural address.

Sheinbaum’s predecessor Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador had cordial relations with Trump during the Republican’s first term (2017-2021), despite his harsh campaign rhetoric that described Mexican immigrants broadly as “rapists” and drug dealers.