US President Donald Trump has announced that any country that purchases oil or gas from Venezuela will face a 25-percent tariff in its trade with the United States, starting on April 2.
The latest tariff threat came in a Truth Social post on Monday morning, in which Trump assailed Venezuela for spurring migration to the US. He also criticised its government, led by President Nicolas Maduro.
“Venezuela has been very hostile to the United States and the Freedoms which we espouse,” Trump wrote.
“Therefore, 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.”
The tariff appears designed not only to strike a blow against Venezuela but also against China, the US’s main economic rival and the largest consumer of Venezuelan energy products.
Later, at a White House cabinet meeting, Trump said he would also place tariffs on pharmaceuticals, automobiles and aluminium.
Already, on April 2, US trading partners are bracing for what Trump has termed “reciprocal tariffs” — import duties that seek to match what other countries impose on US products.
“What is so exciting is April 2 is just around the corner. And that’s American liberation day. That’s the day when the rest of the world starts to treat America with respect,” Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said at the cabinet meeting, echoing sentiments Trump has expressed in the past.
Lutnick added that April 2 would also mark the launch of the External Revenue Service, a new agency whose job will be to collect tariffs and other import taxes.
Critics, however, have pointed out that US Customs and Border Protection — under the Department of Homeland Security — already collects and processes tariffs on behalf of the federal government.
Creating a new agency would also likely require an act of Congress.
Pressure campaign on Venezuela
Trump’s latest announcements mark a continuation of his pressure campaign against Venezuela, a longtime target of his.
During his first term in office, from 2017 to 2021, Trump implemented a “maximum pressure” campaign against the South American country, imposing heavy sanctions on its government.
The Maduro government has been accused of human rights abuses including the torture and arbitrary detention of dissidents. Trump, in his first term, even offered a $15m reward for information that would lead to Maduro’s arrest.
Maduro, meanwhile, has accused the US of meddling in his country’s affairs and seeking to overthrow his government. He has also blamed US sanctions for exacerbating an economic crisis that resulted, in part, from a sharp drop in oil prices in the mid-2010s.
Venezuela boasts some of the largest crude oil reserves in the world, and it also has the largest natural gas deposits in South America. Its economy is largely reliant on energy exports.
As Trump entered his second term in January, it was unclear whether he would return to his “maximum pressure” campaign. Critics speculated that Trump’s pledge to lead a “mass deportation” campaign would require some level of cooperation with the Maduro government.
On February 1, Trump’s special envoy Richard Grenell met with Maduro to ask the Venezuelan leader to accept undocumented migrants deported from the US.
Venezuela had largely refused to do so in the past. It does not have diplomatic relations with the US.
Still, Grenell came away with a tentative agreement for Venezuela to accept deportations, along with the release of six Americans who had been detained in the country.
This past Saturday, Maduro delivered a televised address confirming that his country would resume accepting deportations from the US. One such deportation flight arrived at the Simon Bolivar International Airport early on Monday morning.
Trump has nevertheless sought to further restrict Venezuela’s economic output, citing human rights concerns.
In February, for instance, Trump said he would revoke an oil license granted to the energy giant Chevron, which gave it special permission to collaborate with Venezuela’s state-run oil companies. Chevron has been given until May 27 to close its Venezuelan operations.
And in his post on Monday, Trump blamed Venezuela for the waves of migrants fleeing its borders, saying — without evidence — that the country intentionally sent people to the US.
“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,” Trump wrote.
“Among the gangs they sent to the United States, is Tren de Aragua, which has been given the designation of ‘Foreign Terrorist Organization.’ We are in the process of returning them to Venezuela — It is a big task!”
Trump has long conflated migration with criminality, amplifying nativist fears of a criminal “invasion” in the US.
Much of Venezuela’s exodus, however, has been spurred by its economic crisis and political repression. Some 7.7 million Venezuelans have fled the country amid shortages of basic goods like food and medicine. Many are refugees or asylum seekers.
Critics have also warned that Trump’s tariff threats could backfire, creating higher prices for American consumers.
Among those countries that purchase Venezuela’s oil products — and therefore face 25-percent tariffs — are China, Spain, Brazil and Turkiye.
According to the US Energy Information Administration, Venezuela’s oil production has been on the decline for more than a decade, dropping from 3.2 million barrels per day in 2000 to 735,000 in September 2023.
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) estimates that Venezuela’s petroleum exports were valued at $13.68bn for 2023.
