Oil company executives are scheduled to meet with President Trump at the White House on Friday to discuss plans for stabilizing and boosting Venezuela’s oil production after the ouster of strongman Nicholas Maduro.
The White House has not announced a list of the companies, but multiple reports said executives from Chevron, Exxon and ConocoPhillips are expected to attend.
The administration took control of Venezuelan oil supplies after the U.S. military captured Maduro and flew him to New York to face narco-terrorism charges.
The administration plans to control Venezuelan oil indefinitely and control the sale of it so that proceeds can benefit both Americans and Venezuelans.
However, the oil companies are expected to seek security guarantees in exchange for participating in Mr. Trump’s plans for Venezuela. That emerging partnership drew pushback from Democrats.
“Trump has no authority to appropriate any funds for ’serious guarantees’ for oil companies. Only Congress can do that,” Rep. Ted Lieu, California Democrat, said on X. “I will vote NO on any attempt to use taxpayer dollars to subsidize oil companies in Venezuela.”
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Looking ahead, Mr. Trump said Venezuela would use proceeds from its U.S.-guided oil production to buy American products.
The move would support Mr. Trump’s twin aims of revamping Venezuela and bolstering U.S. manufacturing.
Mr. Trump said Venezuela would buy made-in-USA products exclusively, including farm goods, medicines, medical devices and energy equipment.
“In other words, Venezuela is committing to doing business with the United States of America as their principal partner – A wise choice, and a very good thing for the people of Venezuela, and the United States,” Mr. Trump said.
He is taking an expansive view of the U.S. role as the dominant superpower and security boss in the Western Hemisphere. He is dubbing it the “Don-roe doctrine.”
Vice President J.D. Vance on Thursday said foreign leaders should realize that the U.S. is willing to take power away from “criminal cartel organizations” and give it to “legitimate governments.”
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“That’s how we see the future of the Western Hemisphere, and we think it’s going to be much more peaceful than it was, certainly under Joe Biden,” Mr. Vance said at the White House.
Some South American leaders are striking a conciliatory tone.
Acting Venezuelan President Delcy Rodriguez’s brother, National Assembly leader Jorge Rodriguez, announced that some domestic and foreign political prisoners would be released as a gesture to “seek peace.”
Spain, for instance, confirmed the release of five of its citizens.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio is setting up a meeting between Mr. Trump and Colombia’s president, Gustavo Petro, after the leaders smoothed over tensions in a recent phone call.
The U.S. president said he spoke to Mr. Petro, who criticized Mr. Trump’s Caracas raid, in the middle of his New York Times interview late Wednesday at the White House.
“It was a Great Honor to speak with the President of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, who called to explain the situation of drugs and other disagreements that we have had,” Mr. Trump said on Truth Social. “I appreciated his call and tone, and look forward to meeting him in the near future.”
Some congressional lawmakers are nervous about what comes next.
Five Senate Republicans joined Democrats on Thursday to advance legislation that would bar Mr. Trump from using military force in Venezuela without congressional authorization.
Mr. Trump slammed the GOP senators who voted for the resolution.
“Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, Rand Paul, Josh Hawley, and Todd Young should never be elected to office again,” he wrote on social media.
Mr. Trump is also eyeing the purchase or takeover of Greenland, prompting a heavy rebuke from Danish officials who control the Arctic island and pushback from congressional Republicans and Democrats.
“What we’re asking our European friends to do is to take the security of that land mass more seriously,” Mr. Vance said. “Because if they’re not, the United States is going to have to do something about it. What that is, I’ll leave that to the president.”
Meanwhile, American efforts to control the flow of oil from Venezuela are sparking tensions with major powers.
China accused the U.S. of violating international law by seizing a merchant vessel — the Bella 1 — that last docked in Venezuela. The ship had been accused of dodging U.S. sanctions while flying a Russian flag.
“By arbitrarily seizing other countries’ vessels in the high seas, the U.S. has seriously violated international law,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said.
The Trump administration says the Bella oil tanker, which had been renamed Marinera, defied a U.S. maritime blockade of sanctioned tankers.
Attorney General Pam Bondi said Bella crewmen could face prosecution in the U.S. for allegedly evading sanctions.
Moscow said the crew did nothing wrong and that it submitted formal complaints to the U.S. side.
“We call on Washington to resume compliance with the fundamental norms and principles of international maritime navigation and immediately cease its illegal actions against the Marinera and other vessels engaged in law-abiding activities on the high seas,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said, as quoted by the TASS state news agency.
