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Trump’s 51st State Bid
President Donald Trump said he was “seriously considering” making Venezuela the “fifty-first state,” and he later posted a map of Venezuela filled with the U.S. flag and labelled “51st State” while traveling to China for talks with Xi Jinping.
“seriously considering a move to make Venezuela the fifty-first state”
Venezuela’s acting President Delcy Rodríguez rejected the idea at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, saying, “We will continue to defend our integrity, our sovereignty, our independence, our history,” and adding that Venezuela is “not a colony, but a free country.”
The dispute over Trump’s remarks unfolded alongside a U.S. military operation in Venezuela’s capital, Caracas, that led to Rodríguez’s assumption of power in January after the ouster of Nicolás Maduro.
In the same period, Reuters and other coverage tied Trump’s Venezuela comments to his broader claims about U.S. involvement after Maduro’s capture, while the White House reshared Trump’s “51st State” graphic on its official X account.
Rubio, Xi, and Taiwan
As Trump’s Venezuela remarks played out, the U.S. president told Fox News that China’s head of state Xi Jinping “offered help in the Iran war,” and Trump added that Xi would like to see the Strait of Hormuz opened.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned China against attacking Taiwan in an interview with NBC News in Beijing, saying that if the People’s Republic attempted to annex the island by force it would be a “terrible mistake,” while Rubio also insisted, “US policy on the Taiwan issue remains unchanged to this day.”
In Beijing, Xi told Trump at a state banquet that “We have always believed that this is the most important bilateral relationship in the world,” and he urged that the two countries should be partners rather than adversaries.
A separate exchange in Beijing showed Trump answering “Great. China is beautiful.” after a reporter asked whether he talked about Taiwan, followed by silence when the reporter repeated the question.
Legal Stakes and Regional Fallout
The legal and political stakes of Trump’s “51st State” proposal were framed through the U.S. Constitution’s Article IV, which says, “New States may be admitted by the Congress into this Union,” and that “no new State shall be formed” without the consent of the legislatures of the states concerned and Congress.
“New States may be admitted by the Congress into this Union”
In Venezuela, Rodríguez’s response to Trump’s remarks came as she defended the country’s territory and rejected the 51st-state idea, telling journalists, “We will continue to defend our integrity, our sovereignty, our independence, our history,” while also saying Venezuela is “not a colony, but a free country.”
The AP described the government’s posture as near-silence compared with earlier derision, noting that Rodríguez’s Monday comments were “much more reserved than past presidential addresses,” even after Trump said he was “seriously considering” the move.
The same AP account linked the moment to the aftermath of the January U.S. military attack in Caracas and a phased plan to address the crisis-wrecked country, with the U.S. recognizing Rodríguez as the “sole” head of state of Venezuela.
