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Thursday, December 18, 2025 6:54:33 PM
Trump Announces Blockade on Sanctioned Oil Tankers to and From Venezuela
"The Trump administration sinks to a new low – opening fire on drowning men
"It's the boats, stupid -- Trump officials say second strike aimed to destroy drug boat instead of crew"
Related:
Pete Hegseth Should Be Charged With Murder
No matter how you look at the strikes on alleged “drug boats”—as acts of war or
attacks on civilians—Hegseth has committed a crime and should be prosecuted."
Choking off oil flows could be a backbreaker for President Nicolás Maduro’s rule.
By Keith Johnson, a staff writer at Foreign Policy covering geoeconomics and energy.
U.S. President Donald Trump (seated) looks on during a Mexican Border Defense Medal presentation in the Oval Office in Washington on Dec. 15. Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images
December 17, 2025, 11:05 AM
U.S. President Trump announced overnight Tuesday a “TOTAL AND COMPLETE BLOCKADE OF ALL SANCTIONED OIL TANKERS” going to or from Venezuela, a sharp shift from the administration’s previous rationale that it was fighting narcotics trafficking in the Caribbean.
Trump’s Second Term
Ongoing reports and analysis
That doesn’t necessarily mean that the U.S. military buildup—and the series of strikes since September that have killed more than 90 people—are simply about Venezuela’s oil. It does suggest, as White House Chief of Staff Susan Wiles said in interviews published this week, that Washington is seeking regime change in Caracas: Choking off oil flows, the source of almost all of the Venezuelan government’s revenue, could be a backbreaker for President Nicolás Maduro’s rule.
“Venezuela is completely surrounded by the largest Armada ever assembled in the History of South America. It will only get bigger, and the shock to them will be like nothing they have ever seen before — Until such time as they return to the United States of America all of the Oil, Land, and other Assets that they previously stole from us,” Trump wrote late Tuesday on Truth Social.
“For the theft of our Assets, and many other reasons, including Terrorism, Drug Smuggling, and Human Trafficking, the Venezuelan Regime has been designated a FOREIGN TERRORIST ORGANIZATION. Therefore, today, I am ordering A TOTAL AND COMPLETE BLOCKADE OF ALL SANCTIONED OIL TANKERS going into, and out of, Venezuela,” he added.
Analysts puzzled over the social media post and concluded that it must refer to former Venezuelan strongman Hugo Chávez’s 2007 expropriation of assets held by U.S. oil companies, including ExxonMobil, nearly 20 years ago. (Chevron, thanks to a U.S. Treasury exemption, is the only U.S. oil company that still does business in Venezuela.)
Energy markets initially spiked a bit but settled down: Prices for benchmark crude in New York and London were up only slightly Wednesday morning.
Venezuela’s government denounced Trump’s “grotesque threats,” accused Washington of seeking to steal the country’s mineral riches, and vowed to take the case to the United Nations.
At any rate, a total blockade of Venezuelan tankers seems superfluous. After the U.S. boarding and seizure last week of the Skipper, a previously sanctioned oil tanker, traffic to and from Venezuela’s oil ports has come to a virtual standstill, except for Chevron’s ships.
But the cat was already creeping out of the bag even before Trump’s late-night post. U.S. lawmakers who were given a classified briefing by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth on Tuesday—regarding the administration’s use of deadly force against small boats allegedly carrying drugs—came away with the impression that the administration was fighting more than drug flows.
Rep. Gregory Meeks, the ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said that the administration’s proffered justifications for the legal strikes were insufficient.
“The administration has made clear its real interest is in starting a regime change war with Venezuela and going after its oil. Both Rubio and Hegseth offered no evidence to Members today to contradict that this is the real motivation behind U.S. military activity in the Caribbean — and Trump’s own chief of staff has now confirmed it publicly,” Meeks said in a statement.
Other lawmakers joined Meeks in condemning the blockade—a strategy that in most cases is considered an act of war under international law. Rep. Joaquin Castro called it “unquestionably” an act of war and urged support for a vote later this week on a war powers resolution “directing the President to end hostilities with Venezuela.” (Congress, not the executive branch, has the power to declare war, but the Trump administration has argued that the deadly boat strikes off the coast of Venezuela are not hostilities.)
Whether the announced blockade materializes or not—and for a blockade to be legal, the blockading force must have the ability to physically bar shipping—Venezuela’s oil exports, the lifeblood of its economy, are already suffering. Even though only a fraction of Venezuela’s oil exports are carried on so-called “shadow tankers” subject to the notional blockade, nobody wants to cross bows with a U.S. aircraft carrier group; multiple inbound tankers have turned around mid-ocean in recent days.
The problem, from Venezuela’s point of view, is that oil sales fund everything, including food. There is the prospect, according to some economists, of unprecedented famine if the U.S. blockade strangles Venezuela’s earnings.
Keith Johnson is a staff writer at Foreign Policy covering geoeconomics and energy. Bluesky: @kfj-fp.bsky.social X: @KFJ_FP
https://foreignpolicy.com/2025/12/17/trump-blockade-venezuela-maduro-oil-tankers-sanctions/
"The Trump administration sinks to a new low – opening fire on drowning men
"It's the boats, stupid -- Trump officials say second strike aimed to destroy drug boat instead of crew"
Related:
Pete Hegseth Should Be Charged With Murder
No matter how you look at the strikes on alleged “drug boats”—as acts of war or
attacks on civilians—Hegseth has committed a crime and should be prosecuted."
Choking off oil flows could be a backbreaker for President Nicolás Maduro’s rule.
By Keith Johnson, a staff writer at Foreign Policy covering geoeconomics and energy.
U.S. President Donald Trump (seated) looks on during a Mexican Border Defense Medal presentation in the Oval Office in Washington on Dec. 15. Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images
December 17, 2025, 11:05 AM
U.S. President Trump announced overnight Tuesday a “TOTAL AND COMPLETE BLOCKADE OF ALL SANCTIONED OIL TANKERS” going to or from Venezuela, a sharp shift from the administration’s previous rationale that it was fighting narcotics trafficking in the Caribbean.
Trump’s Second Term
Ongoing reports and analysis
That doesn’t necessarily mean that the U.S. military buildup—and the series of strikes since September that have killed more than 90 people—are simply about Venezuela’s oil. It does suggest, as White House Chief of Staff Susan Wiles said in interviews published this week, that Washington is seeking regime change in Caracas: Choking off oil flows, the source of almost all of the Venezuelan government’s revenue, could be a backbreaker for President Nicolás Maduro’s rule.
“Venezuela is completely surrounded by the largest Armada ever assembled in the History of South America. It will only get bigger, and the shock to them will be like nothing they have ever seen before — Until such time as they return to the United States of America all of the Oil, Land, and other Assets that they previously stole from us,” Trump wrote late Tuesday on Truth Social.
“For the theft of our Assets, and many other reasons, including Terrorism, Drug Smuggling, and Human Trafficking, the Venezuelan Regime has been designated a FOREIGN TERRORIST ORGANIZATION. Therefore, today, I am ordering A TOTAL AND COMPLETE BLOCKADE OF ALL SANCTIONED OIL TANKERS going into, and out of, Venezuela,” he added.
Analysts puzzled over the social media post and concluded that it must refer to former Venezuelan strongman Hugo Chávez’s 2007 expropriation of assets held by U.S. oil companies, including ExxonMobil, nearly 20 years ago. (Chevron, thanks to a U.S. Treasury exemption, is the only U.S. oil company that still does business in Venezuela.)
Energy markets initially spiked a bit but settled down: Prices for benchmark crude in New York and London were up only slightly Wednesday morning.
Venezuela’s government denounced Trump’s “grotesque threats,” accused Washington of seeking to steal the country’s mineral riches, and vowed to take the case to the United Nations.
At any rate, a total blockade of Venezuelan tankers seems superfluous. After the U.S. boarding and seizure last week of the Skipper, a previously sanctioned oil tanker, traffic to and from Venezuela’s oil ports has come to a virtual standstill, except for Chevron’s ships.
But the cat was already creeping out of the bag even before Trump’s late-night post. U.S. lawmakers who were given a classified briefing by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth on Tuesday—regarding the administration’s use of deadly force against small boats allegedly carrying drugs—came away with the impression that the administration was fighting more than drug flows.
Rep. Gregory Meeks, the ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said that the administration’s proffered justifications for the legal strikes were insufficient.
“The administration has made clear its real interest is in starting a regime change war with Venezuela and going after its oil. Both Rubio and Hegseth offered no evidence to Members today to contradict that this is the real motivation behind U.S. military activity in the Caribbean — and Trump’s own chief of staff has now confirmed it publicly,” Meeks said in a statement.
Other lawmakers joined Meeks in condemning the blockade—a strategy that in most cases is considered an act of war under international law. Rep. Joaquin Castro called it “unquestionably” an act of war and urged support for a vote later this week on a war powers resolution “directing the President to end hostilities with Venezuela.” (Congress, not the executive branch, has the power to declare war, but the Trump administration has argued that the deadly boat strikes off the coast of Venezuela are not hostilities.)
Whether the announced blockade materializes or not—and for a blockade to be legal, the blockading force must have the ability to physically bar shipping—Venezuela’s oil exports, the lifeblood of its economy, are already suffering. Even though only a fraction of Venezuela’s oil exports are carried on so-called “shadow tankers” subject to the notional blockade, nobody wants to cross bows with a U.S. aircraft carrier group; multiple inbound tankers have turned around mid-ocean in recent days.
The problem, from Venezuela’s point of view, is that oil sales fund everything, including food. There is the prospect, according to some economists, of unprecedented famine if the U.S. blockade strangles Venezuela’s earnings.
Keith Johnson is a staff writer at Foreign Policy covering geoeconomics and energy. Bluesky: @kfj-fp.bsky.social X: @KFJ_FP
https://foreignpolicy.com/2025/12/17/trump-blockade-venezuela-maduro-oil-tankers-sanctions/
It was Plato who said, “He, O men, is the wisest, who like Socrates, knows that his wisdom is in truth worth nothing”
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