US President Donald Trump will meet Venezuelan acting President Delcy Rodríguez in New York next week, marking their first face-to-face encounter since an American military operation captured former leader Nicolás Maduro and transformed Venezuela’s political order.
Mike Waltz, the United States ambassador to the United Nations, confirmed the planned meeting during a call with reporters.
The two leaders are expected to meet while Trump attends the annual United Nations General Assembly.
Waltz described the encounter as a “pull-aside.”
That term generally refers to a short, comparatively informal discussion conducted alongside a larger international gathering. It is less extensive than a scheduled bilateral summit involving formal delegations, an agreed agenda and prepared joint statements.
The description is important because neither government has announced a comprehensive diplomatic summit or guaranteed that the discussion will produce a new agreement.
The meeting is nevertheless highly consequential.
It will bring Trump together with the official who assumed control of Venezuela after the United States carried out a surprise military operation in January and captured Maduro.
American authorities transferred Maduro to the United States to face drug-trafficking charges.
Rodríguez, who served as Maduro’s vice president, subsequently became Venezuela’s acting president.
The transition occurred under extraordinary external pressure rather than through a conventional electoral transfer of power.
Trump and Rodríguez have communicated and negotiated through their governments, but the New York encounter will be their first confirmed in-person meeting since the operation.
Their discussion will follow an agreement announced in August that gives the United States a stake in Venezuela’s extensive oil reserves.
Rodríguez presented that arrangement as a pathway towards economic recovery and the modernisation of Venezuela’s oil industry.
The agreement potentially gives Washington a long-term role in one of the world’s largest petroleum sectors while providing Caracas with access to investment, technical capacity and international markets.
Its precise ownership arrangements, revenue distribution, oversight mechanisms and consequences for Venezuelan sovereignty require continuing scrutiny.
The forthcoming meeting may address implementation of that arrangement, energy production, sanctions, security cooperation, political recognition and Venezuela’s international economic relationships.
No official agenda has been published, however.
It would therefore be premature to report that Trump and Rodríguez will sign a new oil, diplomatic or security agreement.
The encounter also raises fundamental questions about the political status of Rodríguez’s government.
Washington’s willingness to hold a presidential-level meeting demonstrates operational engagement with her administration.
It does not automatically resolve every legal and diplomatic question surrounding recognition, Venezuela’s democratic institutions or the legitimacy of the post-Maduro transition.
Rodríguez was a central member of Maduro’s government before succeeding him. Her ability to retain elements of the former governing structure while cooperating with Washington has become a defining feature of the new political arrangement.
For the Trump administration, engagement offers several potential advantages.
Venezuela possesses enormous oil resources and occupies a strategically important position along the Caribbean coast. Cooperation could increase energy supplies, limit migration pressures and reduce the influence of Russia, China and Iran.
For Rodríguez, direct access to the US president could help secure investment, sanctions relief and international recognition while stabilising a government created during a period of military and political shock.
Those interests do not prove that the two governments agree on the future of Venezuela.
Important unresolved issues include the status of opposition groups, political prisoners, elections, the role of Venezuelan security forces and the terms under which international oil companies may operate.
The meeting also carries regional significance.
The US operation to capture Maduro represented an extraordinary use of military power against a sitting foreign leader. Governments across Latin America and the Caribbean must now assess whether the subsequent political and economic arrangement will stabilise Venezuela or establish a precedent for externally imposed leadership change.
International law questions surrounding the raid have not been resolved by the planned diplomatic encounter.
Nor does Rodríguez’s participation retroactively establish universal acceptance of the operation.
The White House’s broader UN schedule indicates that Trump will use the gathering for several high-level discussions.
Waltz said the president would also meet British Prime Minister Andy Burnham and Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi. Trump is additionally expected to meet leaders of the Gulf Cooperation Council amid efforts to find an end to the continuing war involving Iran.
The Rodríguez encounter stands apart because it follows the direct removal of her predecessor by US forces and the rapid negotiation of an agreement concerning Venezuela’s most important economic asset.
The Associated Press reported the announcement from Washington on Saturday, September 19.
No response detailing the meeting’s agenda had been published by Rodríguez’s government when this report was prepared.
The exact day, venue and duration also remained undisclosed.
Security and scheduling arrangements surrounding the UN General Assembly frequently change. The event should therefore be described as confirmed and planned, not as completed.
The strongest verified conclusion is that Washington and Caracas are moving from indirect cooperation to direct presidential engagement.
Whether that encounter produces formal recognition, new oil commitments, sanctions changes or political conditions will only become clear when the meeting occurs and both governments publish their accounts.
