US President Donald Trump has added another entry to his growing list of proposed geographic name changes — this time putting the state of New Mexico in his sights.
The development came just over two weeks after the President signed an order to rename Lake Ontario as “Lake America” for official use in the US, a move that was widely seen as another provocative move by the Trump administration towards Canada.
Trump on Sunday shared an image on Truth Social showing the outline of New Mexico with the word “Mexico” crossed out and “America” written in its place, effectively turning the state into “New America.” The White House also shared the same image on X.
There has been no official announcement either by Trump or the White House to actually rename the state.
Unlike certain geographic names, a US President cannot simply change the legal name of a state through an executive order. Any formal change would require action beyond a presidential social media post, reports CNN.
Trump’s latest map makeover quickly drew resistance from New Mexico officials.
Democratic Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham rejected the idea, saying the state’s name was not open for debate and noting that it dates back to before the US itself existed.
“While the President tries to distract Americans from his disastrous war in Iran, gas prices keep soaring,” she said Sunday on X. “While the White House wastes time coloring on maps, Nuevo Mexico is busy doing the work.”
Trump’s latest proposal follows a pattern of seeking to put his stamp on geographic names.
In January 2025, shortly after returning to the White House, Trump ordered the government to use Gulf of America in place of Gulf of Mexico.
The move triggered a fierce backlash in Mexico. Last year, the Mexican government took Google to court after the tech giant changed the Gulf of Mexico’s name on its Maps platform.
President Claudia Sheinbaum accused the company of crossing a sovereign line and interfering with Mexico’s territorial identity.
Shortly after signing the “Lake America” executive order on August 27Trump appeared to hint that his renaming campaign could go even further — this time targeting one of the oceans bordering the US.
“We have a gulf and we have a lake. Now, all we need is an ocean. So, maybe we’ll have to change the name of the Atlantic and/or the Pacific. Maybe we’ll change them both,” he said.
Canada, meanwhile, pushed back firmly against the Lake Ontario renaming.
Prime Minister Mark Carney said the lake’s name remains in use “for Canadians and the rest of the world. Now and forever”, pointing to its deep ties to Indigenous history and culture. The name is linked to the Wendat language, referring to the lake as “beautiful” and “big”.
Despite the political dispute, the change has already appeared on digital maps in the US.
Both Apple Maps and Google Maps now display Lake Ontario as “Lake America” for US users.
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