---
title: "Iceland summons U.S. ambassador after Trump posts stars-and-stripes map"
url: https://www.hereaiken.com/2026/09/08/iceland-summons-us-ambassador-trump-map-new-mexico/
date: 2026-09-08T20:38:09-04:00
modified: 2026-09-08T21:08:06-04:00
author: ""
categories: ["Politics"]
site: "HERE Aiken"
attribution: "HERE Aiken"
---

# Iceland summons U.S. ambassador after Trump posts stars-and-stripes map

*Source: [HERE Aiken](https://www.hereaiken.com/2026/09/08/iceland-summons-us-ambassador-trump-map-new-mexico/) — September 8, 2026 by *

Iceland summoned the U.S. ambassador on Monday after President Donald Trump posted a map on Truth Social that appeared to show the United States, Canada, Greenland, Iceland, Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean covered in stars and stripes, with the entire landmass labeled United States of America. Iceland foreign minister Þorgerður Katrín Gunnarsdóttir called in U.S. ambassador Billy Long, who formally took up the post last month, and described the post as completely inappropriate.

When an ambassador is summoned, it typically means they are being called for a formal meeting in which the host country expresses displeasure over their government actions. The move follows repeated tensions between Trump administration territorial rhetoric and neighboring capitals, including the U.S. president push to acquire Greenland from Denmark and past calls to make Canada the 51st state.

The map post followed a flurry of separate posts by Trump renaming New Mexico as New America. On Sunday, Trump claimed on Truth Social that he had received suggestions to change the state name and that he liked the idea, calling it more prestigious and beautiful for the people of that potentially incredible state. New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham, a Democrat who has served since January 1, 2019, and won reelection in 2022, said in a post on X that New Mexico name is not up for debate and has been the state name since before the United States existed. She added that the president was trying to distract Americans from what she described as a disastrous war in Iran while gas prices continue to rise, Americans spend more at the grocery store, lose access to health care, and struggle to afford a home.

The U.S. federal government has no authority to change a state name. Any renaming would require New Mexico voters to approve an amendment to the state constitution through a ballot measure. New Mexico Senator Ben Ray Luján also pushed back, calling the proposal a non-starter with residents of the state.

Trump renaming push began shortly after his return to office in January 2025, when the administration moved to rename the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America. In August, as trade tensions with Canada escalated, the administration moved to rename Lake Ontario as Lake America. The Iceland-Greenland map came shortly after the European Commission announced a €200 million investment in the Danish territory during a visit by Commission president Ursula von der Leyen and Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen. Frederiksen said in Nuuk that the Greenlandic government and Greenlandic people had said again and again that they did not want to be American.