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Ex-President Donald Trump has stated that Venezuela will be “transferring” approximately $2 billion worth of Venezuelan oil to the US. This major agreement would divert supplies originally bound for China while assisting Venezuela sidestep further oil production cuts.

“This Crude will be sold at its current market value, and that proceeds will be managed by me, as the President of the United States of America, to make certain it is used to benefit the population of Venezuela and the United States!” Trump wrote in an online post.

Officials in Caracas and the national oil company PDVSA have not commented on the alleged agreement.

Context: A Blockade and a Capture

Venezuela currently has vast quantities of oil loaded on tankers and held in storage that it has been unable to ship due to a blockade ordered by the Trump administration. This coercive strategy ended with the ouster of Nicolás Maduro, who was apprehended by United States troops over the recent weekend.

While top Venezuelan officials have called Maduro’s capture a abduction and charged the US of trying to steal the country’s immense oil reserves, Tuesday’s declaration is seen as a strong sign that the interim government is bowing to Trump’s demand to open up to US oil companies or be threatened with more military intervention.

A Separate Agenda: The Quest for Greenland

Simultaneously, Trump and his advisers have stated they are “exploring” a “spectrum of choices” in an attempt to obtain Greenland. A White House statement on Tuesday noted that using the US military to do so is “remains a possibility”.

“President Trump has made it perfectly clear that acquiring Greenland is a key national security objective of the United States, and it’s essential to thwart our opponents in the Arctic region,” said White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt. “The president and his team are discussing a set of options to accomplish this significant foreign policy goal, and of course, using the US military is a constant possibility at the commander-in-chief’s command.”

Leavitt’s comments came as the heads of state of major European powers pushed back against Trump’s longstanding desire to annex the Arctic territory.

Additional Major Updates

• Aid Money Halted: The Trump administration is freezing more than $10 billion in federal childcare and family support funds to five major states. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) cited concerns about fraud and misuse.
• Sealed Records: The Department of Justice has released a tiny fraction of the so-called Epstein files, a court filing has revealed. Democrats have escalated criticism of the administration’s “unlawful actions” for withholding the documents.
• Agents Deployed to Minnesota: The administration has dispatched more immigration agents to Minnesota, in an extension of escalating attacks against the state and its immigrant populations. Immigration officials called it the agency’s “most significant crackdown so far”.
• Clear Opposition from Greenland: Greenland’s Prime Minister, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, urged Trump to give up his “fantasies about annexation” Greenland and accused the US of “wholly inappropriate” rhetoric. The Prime Minister of Denmark, Mette Frederiksen, previously warned that a US attack on a NATO ally would mean the “demise” of the military alliance.
• Resources Diverted from Trafficking: Democratic senators alleged in a letter that the Trump administration has stopped trying to combat trafficking and cartel activity as it reassigns thousands of law enforcement personnel to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Oil Price Movement

The fallout of the US intervention in Venezuela sent tremors through the markets. The price of oil dropped after Trump’s announcement, with traders anticipating more supply entering the market. West Texas Intermediate fell by over 1.5%, while the international benchmark, Brent crude, also slipped.

Political Backlash

The idea of military action against Greenland met with swift bipartisan criticism from US legislators. Democrat Senator Ruben Gallego vowed to introduce a resolution to block such a move. GOP House Speaker Mike Johnson said he did not think military action was “the right course”, and other Republican senators warned it could lead to the “collapse” of NATO.

The broader diplomatic landscape remains fraught, with the US simultaneously involved in high-stakes standoffs in South America and the Arctic while carrying out divisive domestic policy shifts.