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President Donald Trump has declared that Venezuela will be “handing over” around $2 billion worth of Venezuelan oil to the US. This major agreement would divert supplies originally bound for China while allowing Venezuela evade further oil production cuts.

“This Crude will be sold at its current market value, and that proceeds will be controlled by me, as President of the United States of America, to ensure it is used to benefit the people of Venezuela and the United States!” Trump stated in an social media post.

Authorities in Venezuela and the state company PDVSA offered no response on the supposed agreement.

The Situation: A Blockade and a Capture

Venezuela currently has millions of barrels of oil aboard tankers and in onshore tanks that it has been blocked from exporting due to a blockade imposed by the Trump administration. This campaign of pressure culminated in the ouster of Nicolás Maduro, who was captured by United States troops over the past weekend.

While senior Venezuelan officials have labeled Maduro’s capture a kidnapping and charged the US of attempting to seize the country’s vast oil reserves, Tuesday’s declaration is seen as a strong sign that the remaining government is complying with Trump’s requirement to provide entry to US oil companies or risk additional military intervention.

A Separate Agenda: The Pursuit of Greenland

At the same time, Trump and his team have stated they are “looking into” a “variety of possibilities” in an attempt to acquire Greenland. A White House statement on Tuesday noted that using the US military to do so is “always an option”.

“President Trump has made it perfectly clear that acquiring Greenland is a vital security interest of the United States, and it’s essential to deter our opponents in the Arctic region,” said White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt. “The president and his team are discussing a series of options to accomplish this significant foreign policy goal, and of course, using the US military is always an option at the commander-in-chief’s discretion.”

Leavitt’s comments came as the top officials of leading European powers voiced resistance against Trump’s longstanding desire to annex the Arctic territory.

Additional Major Updates

• Family Assistance Blocked: The Trump administration is freezing more than $10 billion in federal childcare and family assistance funds to California, Colorado, Illinois, Minnesota, and New York. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) cited concerns about fraud and misuse.
• Epstein Files Withheld: The Department of Justice has released a minuscule portion of the so-called Epstein files, a court filing has revealed. Democrats have escalated criticism of the administration’s “unlawful actions” for sealing the files.
• Immigration Crackdown in Minnesota: The administration has dispatched more immigration agents to Minnesota, in an extension of increasing rhetoric against the state and its immigrant populations. Immigration officials called it the agency’s “biggest-ever operation”.
• Greenland’s Firm Rejection: Greenland’s Prime Minister, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, urged Trump to abandon his “dreams of taking over” 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 “end” of the military alliance.
• Law Enforcement Priorities Shifted: Democratic senators claimed in a letter that the Trump administration has stopped trying to combat exploitation and trafficking 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 ripples through global markets. The price of oil declined after Trump’s announcement, with traders bracing for more supply hitting the market. West Texas Intermediate fell by 1.6%, while the international benchmark, Brent crude, also decreased.

Political Backlash

The idea of using the military against Greenland faced swift cross-party opposition 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 “appropriate”, and other Republican senators warned it could lead to the “end” of NATO.

The broader diplomatic context remains uncertain, with the US at once engaging in major disputes in South America and the Arctic while enacting contentious domestic policy shifts.