Hitting back: Maduro speaking during a meeting with his ministers in Caracas. Trump says Venezuela has purposefully and deceitfully sent to the United States tens of thousands of undercover and high level criminals. — AFP
WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump threatens a 25% tariff on any nation purchasing oil and gas from Venezuela, ratcheting up his dispute with the Latin American country over immigration with a move that risks roiling the global energy trade.
The move aims to cut a major source of revenue for the regime of Nicolas Maduro in Caracas while also putting further pressure on China, which is a major purchaser of Venezuelan crude and already in the cross hairs for 20% tariffs under Trump.
The United States, meanwhile, is also a core buyer of Venezuelan oil, and Texas-based Chevron Corp is a key producer.
The tariff would go into effect on April 2, Trump said in a social media post on Monday, the same day his administration is expected to unveil a wider array of levies targeting multiple countries, adding yet another layer to the overlapping duties that have rattled trade partners and risk gumming up the global economy.
Later, Trump told reporters the levies would be “on top of existing tariffs”.
US crude futures rose as much as 1.5% after Trump’s post, before paring gains to about 1.2% to trade at US$69.07 a barrel in New York.
Prices have come under pressure in recent weeks due to growing worries about oversupply and a shaky US economic outlook.
Meanwhile, Venezuela sovereign bonds slipped across the curve.
Trump referred to the new charges as “secondary tariffs”, a potentially novel use of the trade tool similar to so-called secondary sanctions imposed on firms or people doing business with targeted entities.
Trump has ramped up scrutiny and sanctions on Venezuela since returning to the White House, reversing some easing under President Joe Biden.
“Any country that purchases oil and/or gas from Venezuela will be forced to pay a tariff of 25% to the United States on any trade they do with our country.
“All documentation will be signed and registered, and the tariff will take place on April 2, 2025,” Trump wrote on Monday on Truth Social.
“Venezuela has been very hostile to the United States and the freedoms which we espouse,” Trump wrote.
In a later statement, the government of Maduro rejected the measure, calling it “arbitrary, illegal and desperate”.
“Far from affecting our resolve, it confirms the resounding failure of all the sanctions imposed against our country,” the statement said.
The renewed pressure from Washington also comes as exports of Venezuelan crude had risen to a five-year high in February, before the Trump administration said it was forcing Chevron to wind down its operations in the country.
The US Treasury Department on Monday granted Chevron more time to conclude operations with Venezuela’s state-owned Petroleos de Venezuela SA, extending the deadline to May 27 from April 3.
A spokesperson for Chevron didn’t immediately comment on the extension.
A senior administration official said that the extension was to allow fulfillment of pre-orders and predicated on not allowing additional cash payments to Maduro’s government.
Trump discussed the Venezuela situation last Wednesday in a meeting with more than a dozen oil executives, including Chevron chief executive officer Mike Wirth, according to people familiar with the situation.
The issue was framed within the broader context of global oil supply, as well as the specific point that US Gulf Coast refineries are optimised to use the types of heavy crude imported from Venezuela and Canada, they said.
Slapping tariffs on buyers of Venezuelan crude was also discussed as a way to deter other buyers, especially China, from taking the country’s oil exports, particularly if Chevron shuttered operations and US imports stopped, said the people, who asked not to be identified detailing private discussions.
The largest buyers of Venezuela oil include US refiners, which depend on the Latin American nation’s heavy grade of crude, along with China, Cuba and companies in Europe and India.
The US refiners include Valero Energy Corp, Phillips 66, PBF Energy Inc and Chevron’s Pascagoula facility in Mississippi.
Trump didn’t detail any plans to put tariffs on sales to the United States, implying that crude imports from the country could continue relatively unfettered.
Curbing Venezuelan barrels at a time when Mexican and Canadian crude flows to the United States have already slowed may prop up prices.
The move escalates tensions with the South American nation ruled by socialist leader Maduro.
Trump has sought to crack down on the Venezuela-based Tren de Aragua gang, including with a series of deportations under a little used 18th century law to a notorious El Salvadoran prison.
A federal judge ruled on Monday the migrants must be allowed to challenge the deportations in court.
Trump announced the decision after Venezuela resumed accepting deportation flights from the United States, which Maduro’s government briefly halted.
But Trump said: “Venezuela has purposefully and deceitfully sent to the United States, undercover, tens of thousands of high level, and other, criminals, many of whom are murderers and people of a very violent nature”, including members of Tren de Aragua.
Venezuela had the world’s largest proven crude oil reserves in 2023 with approximately 303 billion barrels, accounting for approximately 17% of global reserves, according to US government data.
Despite the sizeable reserves, Venezuela produced about 875,000 barrels a day in 2024, according to data from Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, or about 0.9% of total global oil production in 2024. — Bloomberg
