President Donald Trump plans to meet with the acting president of Venezuela, Delcy Rodríguez, next week in New York, on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.
Axios reported on the discussions, after reaching out to sources close to President Trump. It stated that plans for the meeting are already underway and noted that this meeting highlights the close ties between both countries. It cautioned, however, that the event is also fraught with political risks.
If it materializes, it would be the first in-person meeting between a U.S. president and a Venezuelan leader in more than eleven years, since the brief encounter between Barack Obama and Nicolás Maduro during the 2015 Summit of the Americas in Panama.
Trump is scheduled to address the UN General Assembly on Tuesday, September 22, and that same day he will meet with Gulf leaders to discuss the war in Iran.
The president himself had hinted at the possibility on Sunday, aboard Air Force One, when he answered reporters with a brief "maybe yes, maybe yes" when asked about a potential exchange with the Venezuelan leader.
The meeting is part of a rapid diplomatic rapprochement between Washington and Caracas that began after the capture of Nicolás Maduro by U.S. forces on January 3, 2026, in Caracas.
After that, Delcy Rodríguez assumed the role of acting president, and the Trump administration recognized the new Venezuelan government, resumed formal diplomatic relations, and on April 1, 2026, removed Delcy from the OFAC sanctions list.
Both leaders had already held their first phone conversation on January 14. Trump then stated that they had an “excellent conversation” and described Rodríguez as a “fantastic person,” while the Venezuelan leader characterized the exchange as “long, productive, and courteous.”
Another milestone occurred at the end of August with the announcement of a massive oil agreement related to Venezuela. The deal grants the private company North American Blue Energy Partners (NABEP) rights over 17 Venezuelan oil fields with more than 65 billion barrels of proven reserves. Secretary of State Marco Rubio later clarified that the agreement was not signed with the interim government of Delcy Rodríguez, but with NABEP, a company in which the U.S. Department of War holds a 35% stake.
The new significant financial movement
This Friday, Financial Times reported that the Venezuelan government and the opposition are close to reaching an agreement regarding approximately 4 billion dollars in Venezuelan gold reserves held at the Bank of England.
According to the British newspaper, the negotiation scheme involves transferring the gold to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Rodríguez's interim government would gain legal control of the assets, although it would not be able to sell them directly, and could use them as collateral to secure financing.
Criticism of Trump's relationship with Rodríguez
The rapprochement between the governments of the United States and Venezuela has not been without criticism. The opposition leader María Corina Machado questioned the legitimacy of the oil agreement, warning that "the wealth of our land does not belong to an illegitimate regime."
The rapprochement has raised questions among opposition leaders about the role that the current interim government will play in the country's political future.
This week, Trump removed Venezuela from the list of countries that fail to meet drug commitments, another step that adds to the rapid rapprochement between Washington and Caracas and has once again brought the political conditions of the Venezuelan process into the spotlight.
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