(MENAFN) US President Donald Trump indicated on Sunday that negotiations might take place with Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro as friction and an expanding military presence persist in the Caribbean Sea.

“We may be having some discussions with Maduro, and we'll see how that turns out…They would like to talk,” Trump informed reporters in West Palm Beach, Florida, before boarding Air Force One for his trip back to Washington, DC.

His comments followed a recent decision to label the Venezuela-based Cartel de los Soles as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO), a step he said would enable the US to pursue assets and infrastructure associated with Maduro’s administration, which he accuses of directing the criminal enterprise.

“It allows us to do that, but we haven’t said we’re going to do that,” he stated.

Trump further noted that he had directed US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, along with other senior State Department officials, to update Congress on Washington’s initiatives to stem the movement of narcotics.

“Go to Congress and let them know we’re not letting drugs come through Mexico, we’re not letting them come through Venezuela,” he said, emphasizing that “the only thing I don’t want them to do is leak information.”

Earlier in the year, the US State Department had already identified multiple Mexican drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations, giving intelligence bodies expanded legal scope to undertake covert missions.

Meanwhile, the US military has persisted in launching strikes on vessels in the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean that Trump and his top aides claim are involved in trafficking narcotics into the United States. He has also issued warnings of potential action against Maduro.

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