President Donald Trump will meet Venezuela’s interim president, Delcy Rodriguez, in New York on Tuesday, a senior U.S. official said Friday.
The meeting will mark the first time the two have stood in the same room since American forces pulled then-Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro out of Caracas in January and brought him to the United States to face federal drug trafficking and related charges.
The meeting will take place at a reception the U.S. president is hosting for leaders at the U.N. General Assembly.
Mike Waltz, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, laid out the details on a briefing call with reporters.
“The president will host a U.N. General Assembly leaders’ reception. There, he’ll participate in a pull-aside with the acting president Rodriguez of Venezuela,” Waltz said. He did not elaborate on details of what they would discuss.
Earlier this week, Trump took Venezuela off the American list of countries that fail to fight drug trafficking, with a presidential determination pointing to cooperation with Rodriguez’s interim government.
“Given the positive steps taken under interim President Delcy Rodríguez, I have determined Venezuela should no longer be designated as having failed demonstrably to fulfill its drug control commitments,” the presidential determination said. “I expect to see continued, measurable progress from the interim government in dismantling narcoterrorist groups and stopping drug trafficking through Venezuela to the United States.”
Caracas had been on that list since 2005.
Last month the two countries signed an energy deal, which Trump called in a Truth Social post, “The biggest oil deal in world history.”
The United States is taking control of 65 billion barrels from Venezuelan oil reserves. Trump said the move more than doubles U.S. oil stocks, boosts supply, and will cut gasoline prices for Americans.
“This deal is a huge win for both the American and Venezuelan people,” U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio wrote in a post on X. “It demonstrates how President Trump’s bold foreign policy is driving America First wins: securing stable reserves and low-cost oil in our Hemisphere and lowering gas prices here at home.”
Rodriguez, 56, stepped into the interim leadership hours after the U.S. military apprehended Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, on Jan. 3 and flew them to New York on narcoterrorism and drug charges. Maduro pleaded not guilty and remains in custody awaiting trial.
Following Maduro’s ouster, Washington and Caracas resumed diplomatic ties after a seven-year freeze, with Trump continuing to support Rodriguez since she assumed power.
In January, Trump described a phone call with Rodriguez as “very good.” They discussed oil, minerals, trade, and national security.
Rodriguez called the same conversation lengthy and respectful.
“I held a long and courteous telephone conversation with the President of the United States, Donald Trump, conducted within a framework of mutual respect, in which we addressed a bilateral work agenda for the benefit of our peoples, as well as pending matters between our governments,” Rodriguez posted on X at the time.
Meanwhile, U.S. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and Energy Secretary Chris Wright have both traveled to Venezuela to discuss minerals, oil, and investment.
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