Trump Pitches U.S. Rule Over Oil-Rich Venezuela

President Donald Trump said Venezuela could become the 51st U.S. state and have a governor instead of a president, placing a proposal for political subordination beside a tanker of Venezuelan oil at his Corpus Christi, Texas, rally on October 27. “Let's make it. Let's make it the 51st state. And instead of a president, we'll have an election for a governor. How about that? You know, they have a lot of oil,” Trump said. No formal proposal, bill or vote has been announced. Congress admits new states under the U.S. Constitution.

Venezuela’s interim leader, Delcy Rodríguez, rejected the statehood idea in May, saying the country had no plans to become a U.S. state. In July, she said Venezuela had more than two centuries of sovereignty. Rodríguez took over after Nicolás Maduro was captured. A reaction from Caracas to Trump’s October 27 remarks hadn’t been reported, and the White House hadn’t published a plan.

Oil at the center of the pitch

Trump stood beside the Angerona, which he said carried 1 million barrels of Venezuelan crude. He described the oil as a gift that would cost U.S. taxpayers nothing, and said the shipment was the first of billions of barrels he expected the United States to receive. The terms—including who owned the cargo and how payment would work—weren’t explained. Rodríguez hadn’t commented on that shipment.

Trump called the cargo “a historic win that gives us control over a massive part of the world's oil supply.” He said the crude would be refined in Texas, including Corpus Christi, and claimed, “Billions and billions of dollars are now being invested by the biggest oil companies.” Al Jazeera reported that it wasn’t immediately clear under what pretext the oil had been shipped or whether Trump’s account was correct.

The shipment sits within a broader struggle over who controls Venezuelan oil. In August, the Trump administration announced a deal giving the Pentagon a 35 percent stake in North America Blue Energy Partners, a new company overseeing 65 billion barrels of proven oil reserves. The White House said in September that the deal’s first shipment would likely reach U.S. reserves in November; experts questioned whether it would have any short-term impact.

A campaign rally, a vote, and an absent date

The rally came as Trump sought to bolster Republican prospects in a closely contested Senate race. It was his fourth trip to Texas that campaign season, and he was scheduled to hold two rallies. Midterm elections were set for November 3. High fossil-fuel prices amid the U.S.-Israel war with Iran had become an election issue, according to the coverage.

Washington’s leverage over Venezuelan politics also appears in the reporting on the January 3, 2026, U.S. military operation that removed Maduro from power. Maduro was jailed and on trial in New York. Washington recognized Rodríguez’s government, lifted sanctions on her and her brother, National Assembly President Jorge Rodríguez, and reached an oil agreement in August giving it majority control over a significant share of Venezuela’s reserves.

The State Department said a roadmap negotiated with the opposition called for Rodríguez to leave the presidency vacant in 2027. The presidential election had no date. The rally took place two days after opposition leader María Corina Machado returned to Venezuela. Trump said he hoped Machado “is safe,” while Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Washington had urged Rodríguez to allow her return. Rodríguez called Machado’s arrival a “show.”

Trump had raised statehood before: in February he said Venezuela could become the 53rd state, after Canada and Greenland, and in August he shared a map of Venezuela in U.S. flag colors captioned “51st state.” He also raised the idea in March and in a May television interview. At Corpus Christi, he asked oil executive Harold Hamm whether he liked the proposal and thanked Venezuela for what he called a “very, very good” relationship. Trump said the shipment came “thanks to our big victory in our recent war with Venezuela,” then declared, “We're celebrating the greatest oil victory in history.”