‘We Are Not Mexico’: Trump Wants New Mexico Renamed ‘New America’
US President Donald Trump has renewed his call to rename New Mexico “New America”, arguing that the change would bring greater prestige and economic benefits to the state.
“New Mexico should immediately change its name to New America. We are not Mexico, we are the United States of America!” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
He claimed the proposed name would add “great value and prestige” and increase home values and incomes, without providing evidence to support those predictions.
The post follows a similar suggestion in September, when Trump shared an edited map replacing “Mexico” with “America”.
STATE LEADERS REJECT PROPOSAL
The proposal has drawn opposition across New Mexico’s political spectrum.
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Democratic Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham pointed out that the region was known as “Nuevo México” centuries before the modern nation of Mexico was established.
Republican gubernatorial nominee Gregg Hull has also rejected the suggestion, saying the state’s name and cultural heritage are “not up for negotiation”.
The president cannot rename a state unilaterally. A change would require a state-led legal process, including approval from New Mexico’s legislature and voters.
A WIDER PUSH TO CHANGE PLACE NAMES
Trump’s proposal follows other efforts to change geographical names used by the federal government.
On January 20, 2025, the first day of his second term, he signed Executive Order 14172, titled “Restoring Names That Honor American Greatness”.
The order directed federal agencies to adopt “Gulf of America” for the Gulf of Mexico and restore “Mount McKinley” as the federal name of Denali, North America’s highest peak.
The mountain had been federally designated Mount McKinley from 1917 until 2015, when the Obama administration restored the name Denali.
Trump has also floated renaming an ocean bordering the continental United States “Trump Ocean” or “Ocean of the Americas”.
His latest proposal for New Mexico remains a political demand, with no name change announced.
With inputs from ANI