US President Donald Trump has publicly urged the state of New Mexico to immediately adopt the name "New America." The president argued that the rebranding would enhance the state's prestige, boost property values, and increase incomes for its residents.
"New Mexico should immediately change its name to New America. We are not Mexico, we are the United States of America!" Trump wrote in a post on his Truth Social platform this past Monday. He further claimed that the change would make residents feel even prouder when saluting the American flag. Trump first introduced this proposal in September, characterizing "New America" as a more prestigious title for the Southwestern state.
However, the president lacks the unilateral authority to rename a US state. Implementing such a change would require an amendment to the state's Constitution. When Trump first proposed the idea last month, New Mexico's Democratic Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham rejected the suggestion.
The push to rename New Mexico follows a series of similar efforts by Trump to alter geographic landmarks. In January 2025, he issued an executive order directing federal authorities to replace the name "Gulf of Mexico" with "Gulf of America." In August, he signed another executive order requiring federal agencies to rename Lake Ontario, which borders the United States and Canada, as "Lake America." Additionally, during a rally in Georgia on Friday, Trump stated he had jokingly asked Google to rename the Atlantic or Pacific Ocean as "Trump Ocean."
