'We Are Not Mexico': Trump Calls for Renaming US State of New Mexico to 'New America'

Washington, DC: US President Donald Trump on Tuesday renewed his call for New Mexico to change its name to "New America," in a post on Truth Social. "New Mexico should immediately change its name to New America. We are not Mexico, we are the United States of America!" Trump wrote, adding that the new name would add "great value and prestige" to the state and that home values and incomes would rise.

The post follows a similar suggestion he made in September, when he shared an edited map with "Mexico" crossed out and replaced with “America.” Trump first floated the idea of renaming the state "New America" in early September. Today's post is his strongest statement on the matter so far. 

Under the US constitutional framework, the president cannot unilaterally rename a state. Changing New Mexico's name would require amending the state constitution, a process that must be approved by the state legislature and voters. Leaders across New Mexico's political spectrum have rejected the proposal. Democratic Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham dismissed the idea, noting that the region carried the name "Nuevo México" centuries before the modern nation of Mexico was established. Even Republican candidates, including GOP gubernatorial nominee Gregg Hull, have said the state's name and cultural heritage are “not up for negotiation.”

The proposal is part of a wider effort by the Trump administration to rebrand geographic features. Since returning to office, he has signed executive orders directing federal agencies to use "Gulf of America" instead of Gulf of Mexico and "Lake America" for Lake Ontario.
New Mexico is only the latest of re-christenings suggested by the president. On January 20, 2025, the president signed Executive Order 14172, titled “Restoring Names That Honor American Greatness”.

The document, signed by Trump on the day of his second inauguration, directed American federal agencies to refer to the Gulf of Mexico as the “Gulf of America” and Denali, the highest mountain in North America, as “Mount McKinley” (its federal designation from 1917 to 2015).

“In 1917, the country officially honored President McKinley through the naming of North America’s highest peak. Yet after nearly a century, President Obama’s administration, in 2015, stripped the McKinley name from federal nomenclature, an affront to President McKinley’s life, his achievements, and his sacrifice. 

“This order honors President McKinley for giving his life for our great Nation and dutifully recognises his historic legacy of protecting America's interests and generating enormous wealth for all Americans.” On the Gulf of Mexico, the order notes that “The area formerly known as the Gulf of Mexico has long been an integral asset to our once burgeoning Nation and has remained an indelible part of America. The Gulf was a crucial artery for America's early trade and global commerce. It is the largest gulf in the world, and the United States coastline along this remarkable body of water spans over 1,700 miles and contains nearly 160 million acres. Its natural resources and wildlife remain central to America’s economy today.”

It adds that “The Gulf will continue to play a pivotal role in shaping America's future and the global economy, and in recognition of this flourishing economic resource and its critical importance to our Nation's economy and its people, I am directing that it officially be renamed the Gulf of America.” In a speech delivered recently in Clarksville in the southern state of Tennessee, the president suggested renaming either of the oceans that surround the continental US,  the Atlantic and the Pacific , as "Trump Ocean" or "Ocean of the Americas".

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