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Ex-President Donald Trump has stated that Venezuela will be “turning over” around $2 billion worth of crude oil from Venezuela to the United States. This key deal would reroute cargoes originally bound for China while allowing Venezuela avoid further oil production cuts.

“This Petroleum will be sold at its prevailing market price, and that proceeds will be overseen by me, as President of the United States of America, to ensure it is used to help the population of Venezuela and the United States!” Trump stated in an online post.

Officials in Caracas and the national oil company PDVSA did not provide comment on the supposed agreement.

Background: A Blockade and a Capture

Venezuela currently has millions of barrels of oil aboard tankers and held in storage that it has been unable to ship due to a naval blockade enacted by the Trump administration. This pressure campaign culminated in the ouster of Nicolás Maduro, who was captured by US forces over the recent weekend.

While senior Venezuelan officials have described Maduro’s capture a kidnapping and charged the US of seeking to take the country’s immense oil reserves, Tuesday’s declaration is seen as a strong sign that the interim government is complying with Trump’s requirement to grant access to US oil companies or risk further military intervention.

Parallel Ambitions: The Quest for Greenland

Meanwhile, Trump and his aides have stated they are “examining” a “spectrum of choices” in an bid to acquire Greenland. A presidential statement on Tuesday noted that using the US military to do so is “remains a possibility”.

“President Trump has made it abundantly clear that obtaining Greenland is a key national security objective of the United States, and it’s crucial to deter our rivals in the Arctic region,” said White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt. “The president and his team are discussing a set of options to pursue this important foreign policy goal, and of course, using the US military is always an option at the commander-in-chief’s command.”

Leavitt’s comments came as the top officials of major European powers expressed opposition against Trump’s persistent desire to seize the Arctic territory.

Other Key Developments

• Family Assistance Blocked: The Trump administration is withholding more than $10 billion in federal child and family aid 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 disclosed. Democrats have escalated criticism of the administration’s “disregard for the law” for keeping records under seal.
• Immigration Crackdown in Minnesota: The administration has sent more immigration agents to Minnesota, in an extension of growing pressure against the state and its immigrant populations. Immigration officials called it the agency’s “most significant crackdown so far”.
• PM’s Strong Rebuke: Greenland’s Prime Minister, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, urged Trump to relinquish his “fantasies about annexation” Greenland and accused the US of “completely and utterly unacceptable” 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.
• Focus Changed: Democratic senators stated in a letter that the Trump administration has stopped trying to combat child exploitation, human trafficking, and cartels as it reassigns thousands of law enforcement personnel to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Market Reaction

The aftermath of the US intervention in Venezuela sent shockwaves through financial markets. The price of oil declined after Trump’s announcement, with traders expecting more supply hitting the market. US crude fell by more than 1.5 percent, while the international benchmark, Brent crude, also dropped.

Criticism from Lawmakers

The idea of an invasion against Greenland met with swift cross-party opposition from US legislators. Democrat Senator Ruben Gallego vowed to introduce a resolution to block such a move. Republican 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 “demise” of NATO.

The broader diplomatic context remains fraught, with the US concurrently engaging in high-stakes confrontations in Venezuela and the Arctic while implementing divisive domestic policy shifts.