ISTANBUL: US President Donald Trump on Monday called for the southwestern state of New Mexico to be renamed "New America", arguing that the change would boost its prestige, property values and incomes, Anadolu Ajansi reported.
"New Mexico should immediately change its name to New America. We are not Mexico, we are the United States of America!" Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.
"The name would add great value and prestige to the State! Home Values and Incomes would rise, and you would be even prouder while saluting our beautiful American Flag!" he added.
The president first proposed the name change in September, describing "New America" as a more prestigious name for New Mexico, a landlocked state in the US Southwest.
However, Trump cannot unilaterally rename a US state, as changing New Mexico's name would require amending its constitution. The state's Democratic governor, Michelle Lujan Grisham, rejected the proposal when he first raised it last month.
The suggestion follows Trump's earlier efforts to rename geographical landmarks, including his January 2025 executive order directing US federal authorities to adopt "Gulf of America" in place of Gulf of Mexico.
In August, he signed another executive order directing US federal agencies to rename Lake Ontario, which borders the US and Canada, as "Lake America".
Trump also floated renaming the Atlantic or Pacific Ocean "Trump Ocean" or "Ocean of the Americas" during an October 10 rally in Tennessee.
More recently, during a rally in Georgia on Friday, Trump claimed he had jokingly asked Google about renaming the Atlantic or Pacific Ocean "Trump Ocean".
© New Straits Times Press (M) Bhd