President Donald Trump stated that Venezuela will buy “ONLY products manufactured in the United States” with the proceeds of an agreement that would cause the country to cede up to 50 million barrels of oil to the United States.
“These purchases will include, among other things, American agricultural products, medicines, equipment and devices manufactured in the U.S. to improve Venezuela’s power grid and energy facilities,” Trump said in a post on social media. “In other words, Venezuela is committing to doing business with the United States as its main partner.”
Trump has been pressing interim Venezuelan leader Delcy Rodriguez to deepen economic ties with the U.S. after last weekend’s operation to capture Maduro’s leadership.
This Tuesday (6), Trump announced plans for Venezuela to send oil to the United States to be sold, valued at approximately US$2.8 billion at the current market price. The proceeds from the sales will stay in U.S. Treasury accounts, a measure that protects the money of Venezuela’s creditors, according to a source familiar with the matter.
The United States has already begun selling the Venezuelan oil, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said at a press briefing on Wednesday (7).
“We are not stealing anyone’s oil,” said Energy Secretary Chris Wright in an interview with CNBC on Wednesday. “We will restart the sale of Venezuelan oil in global markets, place the money in accounts in the name of Venezuela and bring these resources back to the country, to benefit the Venezuelan people.”
The money from Venezuela’s oil sales will not initially be used to pay Exxon Mobil, ConocoPhillips and other American 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.”
