President Donald Trump stated that Venezuela will buy “ONLY products made in the United States” with proceeds from an agreement that will see the country cede up to 50 million barrels of oil to the US.
“These purchases will include, among other things, American agricultural products, medicines, medical equipment and devices made in the USA to improve Venezuela’s electrical grid and energy facilities,” Trump said in a social media post. “In other words, Venezuela is committing to do business with the United States as its main partner.”
Trump has been pressuring Venezuela’s interim leader, Delcy Rodriguez, to increase economic ties with the US after last weekend’s operation to capture leader Nicolás Maduro.
This Tuesday (6), Trump announced plans for Venezuela to send oil to the US to sell, worth approximately US$2.8 billion at the current market price. Proceeds from the sales will remain in US Treasury accounts, a measure that protects money from Venezuela’s creditors, according to a source close to the matter.
The US has already started selling Venezuelan oil, said White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt at a press conference this Wednesday (7).
“We’re not stealing anyone’s oil,” Energy Secretary Chris Wright said in an interview with CNBC this Wednesday. “We will restart the sale of Venezuelan oil on global markets, put the money into accounts in Venezuela’s name and bring these resources back to the country, to benefit the Venezuelan people.”
Continues after advertising
Money from Venezuela’s oil sales will not initially be used to pay Exxon Mobil, ConocoPhillips and other U.S. companies whose assets were nationalized by Maduro’s predecessor, Hugo Chávez, in the mid-2000s, Wright said. He added that these companies will have to be compensated, but that this is a “long-term issue.”
