Maduro Says Call With Trump Points to a ‘Respectful Dialogue’ Between Countries

Trump confirmed the call days prior but declined to comment further on it.

President Nicolás Maduro at a press conference in Caracas, Venezuela, on Sept. 15, 2025. Leonardo Fernandez Viloria/Reuters

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro said on Dec. 3 that he and U.S. President Donald Trump had a “respectful and cordial” phone call roughly 10 days ago, suggesting the discussion could lead to diplomacy.

“If this call means steps are being taken toward a respectful dialogue between our countries, then dialogue is welcome, diplomacy is welcome,” Maduro said during a television address.

Speaking to reporters on Air Force One on Nov. 30, Trump confirmed that he had spoken to Maduro but declined to offer further details.

“I don’t want to comment on it. The answer is yes,” the U.S. president said.

“I wouldn’t say it went well or badly. It was a phone call.”

Tensions between the United States and Venezuela are building as the Trump administration increases military strikes on alleged drug smuggling boats in the Caribbean close to Venezuelan waters.

The United States has accused Maduro of backing drug cartels in his country and has ramped up political pressure on him, including by doubling the bounty for information relating to his arrest and calling for him to step down after U.S. intelligence and Venezuelan opposition leaders said the regime leader lost the 2024 election.

Just weeks ago, Trump said he thought Maduro’s days as Venezuela’s president were numbered. He said on Dec. 2 that U.S. military strikes on land targets inside the South American nation would begin “very soon” after previously limiting them to boats that U.S. officials say were smuggling drugs into the United States.

“We’re going to start doing those strikes on land too,” Trump said during his Cabinet meeting at the White House. “We know where they live. We know where the bad ones live, and we’re going to start that very soon.”

The U.S. president also warned that other countries could face similar military actions.

“Anybody that’s doing that and selling it into our country is subject to attack,” Trump said.

War Secretary Pete Hegseth said the ongoing U.S. military strikes are legal and said he was not present for the second strike on a suspected drug smuggling boat in September, which hit two survivors of the initial blast.

Days before the Cabinet meeting, Trump wrote on social media that the “airspace above and surrounding Venezuela” should be considered “closed in its entirety.”

The Federal Aviation Administration had already issued a 90-day flight advisory for the Maiquetia Flight Region of Venezuela on Nov. 21. The advisory warned of security worsening and “heightened military action in and around Venezuela.”

Jack Phillips, T.J. Muscaro, and Reuters contributed to this report.