President Donald Trump told Fox News he is "seriously considering" making Venezuela a permanent part of the United States, floating statehood for the South American nation months after U.S. military officials captured former dictator Nicolas Maduro and the administration began managing the country's vast oil sector.
The remark, delivered during a phone call with Fox News's John Roberts, lands somewhere between bold geopolitical signaling and deliberate provocation. But the underlying facts are real: Venezuela sits atop an estimated $40 trillion in oil reserves, American energy companies are rushing back in, and the Trump administration has already signed executive orders directing millions of barrels of Venezuelan crude toward the United States.
Whether statehood is a serious legal prospect or a negotiating posture, the president has now said it publicly more than once. And the reaction from Caracas tells its own story.
Trump first raised the idea in March, posting on Truth Social: "Good things are happening to Venezuela lately! I wonder what this magic is all about? STATEHOOD, #51, ANYONE?" At the time, the post drew attention but was widely treated as a quip.
Then, on May 11, 2026, Trump told Roberts on air that he was "seriously considering" the move, Fox News Digital reported. He cited the country's natural resources as part of the rationale. "Venezuela loves Trump," the president added.
A White House spokesperson offered a statement to Fox News Digital that stopped short of confirming a formal plan but left the door wide open:
"As the President has said, relations between Venezuela and the United States have been extraordinary. Oil is starting to flow, and large amounts of money, unseen for many years, will soon be helping the great people of Venezuela. Only President Trump can be credited for the revitalization of this newfound partnership, and the best is yet to come!"
The spokesperson did not provide details on any specific statehood proposal. Fox News Digital also reached out to the State Department for comment.
Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodriguez, who has served as acting president since Maduro's capture, rejected the idea flatly. Speaking to reporters on Monday, Rodriguez said the notion would never gain consent from her country.
"That would never have been considered, because if there is one thing we Venezuelan men and women have, it is that we love our independence process, we love our heroes and heroines of independence."
Rodriguez made the remarks while attending hearings at the International Court of Justice over the oil- and mineral-rich Essequibo region disputed between Venezuela and Guyana, AP News reported. The setting was no accident, Venezuela's territorial sovereignty is already a live issue on the world stage, and Trump's statehood talk added fuel.
Rodriguez went further in separate comments covered by Breitbart, calling Venezuela "not a colony, but a free country." She also acknowledged, however, that U.S. and Venezuelan officials remain in contact on cooperation and understanding, a notable concession given the rhetorical temperature.
The legal reality is straightforward: annexation of Venezuela would require both congressional approval and the consent of Venezuela itself. Neither appears imminent.
Whatever the statehood talk amounts to politically, the economic moves underneath it are concrete and accelerating. Trump's administration has been aggressive in using executive authority to reshape trade and resource policy, and Venezuela's oil sector is the latest front.
On March 31, 2025, Trump signed an executive order in the Oval Office announcing that Venezuela would turn over millions of barrels of oil to the United States. By April, Venezuelan exports had reached more than 1 million barrels per day, the highest level since 2018 and a seven-year high.
Cabinet officials and White House energy advisors held meetings with top oil executives, urging them to invest in Venezuela. The pitch carried weight: Hugo Chavez had nationalized Venezuela's oil industry nearly 20 years ago, expelling major American firms like Exxon and Conoco. Chevron was the only U.S. major that maintained investments in the country through the Maduro years.
Now the gates are reopening. On February 11, 2026, U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright met with Rodriguez at the Miraflores Palace in Caracas. Two months later, on April 13, 2026, Chevron representative Mariano Vela signed an agreement to expand oil operations in Venezuela at the Miraflores presidential palace, with Rodriguez observing.
American Airlines has also resumed direct flights between Venezuela and Miami, a small but visible sign that commercial normalization is well underway.
None of this would be possible without the January operation that removed Maduro from power. Fox News reported that U.S. military officials captured Maduro, who had previously been indicted by the Justice Department on narco-terrorism charges. Trump pledged at the time to have the U.S. oil industry "up and running" again in Venezuela.
That pledge has largely been kept. The speed of the turnaround, from a captured dictator in January to over a million barrels per day flowing by April, reflects a level of coordination between the White House, the Pentagon, the Justice Department, and the energy sector that is hard to dismiss.
Trump said the United States would "run" Venezuela during its transitional period and work directly with Rodriguez. The arrangement appears to be functioning, at least on the oil front, even as the statehood rhetoric introduces a new layer of complexity.
Just The News noted that Trump had previously joked about running for president of Venezuela after leaving the White House, another remark that blurs the line between showmanship and strategy.
The Venezuela play fits within a second-term presidency defined by willingness to act first and negotiate later. The Washington Examiner reported that Trump's remarks came as part of a broader hemispheric agenda focused on U.S. influence and stabilization in the Americas, with Venezuela's oil reserves at the center of the strategic calculus.
The administration has shown a similar appetite for decisive action on domestic fronts. Trump's recent tariff negotiations and enforcement pushes reflect a governing style that prizes leverage and spectacle in roughly equal measure.
Whether that approach works in the long run depends on results. On Venezuela, the early returns, oil flowing, flights resuming, a dictator in custody, are hard to argue with. The statehood question is another matter entirely.
Rodriguez's public rejection was predictable. No sitting head of state, even an acting one installed after a U.S.-backed intervention, is going to welcome the suggestion that her country should dissolve into another. But her simultaneous acknowledgment that the two governments remain in active contact suggests the working relationship has survived the rhetorical grenade.
The administration's track record of following through on reform promises gives the oil-sector moves more credibility than the statehood talk. Congress would have to approve any annexation. Venezuela would have to consent. Neither condition is close to being met.
Several questions hang over the story. What legal basis is the Trump administration using to manage Venezuela's oil sector directly? What were the specific terms of the agreement Chevron signed in April 2026? Which companies and executives attended the White House meetings? And does "seriously considering" reflect an actual policy process inside the West Wing, or is it a pressure tactic designed to keep Caracas cooperative?
The White House spokesperson's statement was carefully worded, long on enthusiasm, short on specifics. The State Department has not publicly responded. And Trump himself, never one to shy from a provocative public statement, has offered the idea without a roadmap.
For now, the oil is flowing, the dictator is gone, and the president is talking about statehood. Two of those three things are consequential. The third may be the most consequential of all, not because it will happen, but because of what it signals about how far this administration is willing to push.
When a president says he's "seriously considering" turning a foreign country into a state, the smart money watches what his energy secretary and oil executives do next, not what the press conference says.