More than five months after the United States captured now-former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, President Donald Trump has again suggested that his administration would try to annex the oil-rich country.
The president told Fox News correspondent John Roberts on Monday, May 11, that he was now “seriously considering a move to make Venezuela the 51st state.”
But the South American nation's current leader quickly pushed back on the idea.
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Venezuela's acting President Delcy Rodríguez, while speaking to reporters on Monday in the Netherlands, said her country had no plans of being annexed by the United States, according to the Associated Press.
“We will continue to defend our integrity, our sovereignty, our independence, our history,” Rodríguez said at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, adding that Venezuela is “not a colony, but a free country."
Since the United States’ military operation in Venezuela, which led to the arrest of Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, Trump has signaled his intention to at least temporarily administer the South American country along with its oil infrastructure.
"We’re going to run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition," Trump said in January. "We want peace, liberty and justice for the great people of Venezuela."
In the months following the operation, Trump has also relied on Rodríguez, Maduro’s 56-year-old former vice president, to guarantee stability in Venezuela as he prioritizes U.S. companies’ access to the OPEC nations' oil reserves.
OPEC, or the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, is a group of 12 oil producers, mainly in Africa and the Middle East.
In a statement to USA TODAY, White House assistant press secretary Olivia Whales said, "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."
More than just Venezuela
Venezuela isn't the only country Trump has referenced as another potential state during the last 15 months of his second term.
Trump has signaled his desire to purchase the island nation of Greenland, citing national security as a reason for acquiring it. The island's location could also be strategic for a U.S. ballistic missile warning system.
"We need Greenland for national security," Trump said in December 2025. "You look up and down the coast, you have Russian and Chinese ships all over the place. We need it for national security. We have to have it."
As Trump’s second term began and Canada-U.S. relations intensified following the threat of blistering tariffs, the president suggested that the nation become the 51st state.
At a dinner in Florida in late November 2025 with former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Trump suggested that Canada should give up its sovereignty and join the United States, even calling Trudeau the "governor" of the "Great State of Canada" on social media.
Can Trump make Venezuela the 51st US state?
According to the Constitution, Trump cannot legally declare Venezuela the 51st state without congressional approval or Venezuela’s consent.
"New States may be admitted by the Congress into this Union; but no new State shall be formed or erected within the Jurisdiction of any other State; nor any State be formed by the Junction of two or more States, or Parts of States, without the Consent of the Legislatures of the States concerned as well as of the Congress," Article IV reads.
USA TODAY’s Michael Collins, Francesca Chambers, Kinsey Crowley and Reuters contributed to this report.
Fernando Cervantes Jr. is a trending news reporter for USA TODAY. Reach him at fernando.cervantes@gannett.com and follow him on X @fern_cerv_.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump 'considering' Venezuela as 51st state, acting president responds
