Donald Trump suggested that Venezuela could eventually become the 51st state of the United States on Tuesday. The president made the remarks at a campaign rally in Corpus Christi, Texas, while showcasing a tanker carrying one million barrels of oil from the South American nation.
The event came nine months after the United States attacked Venezuela in January and captured its long-serving leader, Nicolás Maduro. Maduro was detained by US forces during a raid on his Caracas residence and taken to New York to face criminal charges.
Trump told the crowd that a US oil deal struck with Venezuela’s interim government would cover billions of barrels of oil. He stated that Venezuela would become a prosperous country, adding that it might become a prosperous 51st state someday soon.
Venezuela joins a growing list of countries and territories that Trump has spoken about acquiring. That list includes Greenland, Canada, and Mexico.
The US president pointed to the Venezuela operation as an example of success while his approval ratings fall to record lows in opinion polls. Tens of millions of Americans are set to vote in next week’s midterm elections, and his aggressive foreign policy has challenged his popularity.
Domestic fuel prices surged after the start of a war with Iran in February, piling pressure on the cost of living for Americans. The urgency of the oil agreement stems from Iran closing the Strait of Hormuz, a passageway for twenty percent of the world’s oil supplies.
In a social media post published before he took the stage in Texas, Trump claimed that unleashing energy dominance from Alaska down to Venezuela made the Western Hemisphere the energy capital of the world. He asserted that fuel prices would soon come plummeting down.
At the rally, Trump called the arrangement the greatest oil victory in history while pointing to the ship off the Texan coast. He stated that the oil was being provided to the United States at zero cost to the American taxpayer.
The oil agreement has drawn skepticism from critics. Opponents complained that the Trump administration has not pushed for a transition to democracy in Venezuela, where elections have not been held since Maduro was removed from power.
