diff --git a/contrib/remote-helpers/git-remote-hg b/contrib/remote-helpers/git-remote-hg
index 4a5c72ffea..3cf9b4c24a 100755
--- a/contrib/remote-helpers/git-remote-hg
+++ b/contrib/remote-helpers/git-remote-hg
@@ -856,7 +856,7 @@ def do_export(parser):
             continue
 
     if peer:
-        parser.repo.push(peer, force=force_push)
+        parser.repo.push(peer, force=force_push, newbranch=True)
 
     # handle bookmarks
     for bmark, node in p_bmarks: