President Donald Trump said Monday that he is thinking about the possibility of Venezuela eventually becoming part of the United States, reopening a discussion he has hinted at several times since the U.S. operation that removed former Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro from power earlier this year.
Speaking during a phone interview with Fox News reporter John Roberts on May 11, Trump said the idea of Venezuela becoming the country’s 51st state was something he was “seriously considering.” He tied much of that interest to Venezuela’s oil industry, which has become a major focus of the administration in recent months.
The response from Venezuela’s current leadership came quickly. Acting President Delcy Rodríguez rejected the idea while speaking to reporters in The Hague, where she was attending proceedings at the International Court of Justice. Rodríguez said Venezuela intended to remain independent and said the country would continue defending its sovereignty and national identity.
The comments come a little more than five months after U.S. forces captured Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, during a military operation that dramatically changed relations between Washington and Caracas. Maduro had previously faced U.S. accusations connected to narco-terrorism charges.
Since the operation, Trump has repeatedly described the United States as playing a temporary management role inside Venezuela while the country moves through what his administration calls a transition period. American officials have also worked closely with Rodríguez, who previously served as Maduro’s vice president before stepping into the role of acting president.
A large part of the administration’s attention has centered on oil production. Venezuela has some of the world’s largest known oil reserves, and White House officials have spent months encouraging American energy companies to invest there again. Several companies had left Venezuela years ago after former president Hugo Chávez nationalized much of the oil industry.
In a statement to USA TODAY, White House assistant press secretary Olivia Whales said economic cooperation between the two countries had improved and pointed to rising oil activity as evidence of that relationship.
Administration officials say Venezuelan exports recently climbed above one million barrels of oil per day for the first time in years. Trump has argued that rebuilding the country’s energy sector could help stabilize Venezuela’s economy while also benefiting the United States.
He has also suggested that support for him inside Venezuela is high, although no polling or other evidence was released alongside those claims.
Questions about whether a president could actually add another country as a U.S. state have also followed Trump’s remarks. Under the Constitution, Congress would need to approve the admission of a new state, and Venezuela itself would have to agree to it as well. Rodríguez indicated Monday that her government would not consider such a proposal.
Trump has made similar comments about other countries during his second term. Over the past year, he has talked about acquiring Greenland because of military and security concerns in the Arctic region. He has also joked publicly about Canada joining the United States during disputes tied to tariffs and trade policy.
At one dinner with former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in late 2025, Trump referred to Trudeau online as the “governor” of what he called the “Great State of Canada.”
USA = Green
Venezuela = Blue
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