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President Donald Trump has announced that Venezuela will be “handing over” around $2 billion worth of Venezuelan oil to the United States. This key deal would divert supplies originally bound for China while potentially helping 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 assist the citizens of Venezuela and the United States!” Trump proclaimed in an digital statement.

Authorities in Venezuela and the state-owned firm PDVSA have not commented on the reported agreement.

The Situation: An Embargo and an Arrest

Venezuela currently has vast quantities of oil loaded on tankers and in onshore tanks that it has been prevented from shipping due to a blockade enacted by the Trump administration. This pressure campaign culminated in the toppling of Nicolás Maduro, who was captured by United States troops over the recent weekend.

While senior Venezuelan officials have called Maduro’s capture a kidnapping and alleged the US of trying to steal the country’s enormous oil reserves, Tuesday’s declaration is seen as a powerful signal that the current government is bowing to Trump’s demand to grant access to US oil companies or be threatened with further military incursion.

Parallel Ambitions: Acquiring Greenland

Simultaneously, Trump and his aides have stated they are “examining” a “spectrum of choices” in an bid to obtain 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 well known that obtaining Greenland is a national security priority of the United States, and it’s crucial to counter our adversaries in the Arctic region,” said White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt. “The president and his team are discussing a range of options to pursue this significant foreign policy goal, and of course, utilizing the US military is a constant possibility at the commander-in-chief’s discretion.”

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

Additional Major Updates

• Family Assistance Blocked: The Trump administration is blocking more than $10 billion in federal childcare and family assistance funds to five major states. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) cited concerns about fraud and misuse.
• Limited Document Release: 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 “lawlessness” for sealing the files.
• ICE Surge in Minnesota: The administration has dispatched more immigration agents to Minnesota, continuing escalating attacks against the state and its immigrant populations. Immigration officials called it the agency’s “largest operation to date”.
• PM’s Strong Rebuke: Greenland’s Prime Minister, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, urged Trump to abandon his “notions of seizing” 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 “collapse” of the military alliance.
• Focus Changed: Democratic senators claimed in a letter that the Trump administration has ceased work to combat exploitation and trafficking 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 ripples through the markets. The price of oil declined after Trump’s announcement, with traders anticipating more supply hitting the market. US crude fell by more than 1.5 percent, while the international benchmark, Brent crude, also dropped.

Bipartisan Opposition

The idea of military action against Greenland met with significant cross-party pushback from US legislators. Democratic 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 “demise” of NATO.

The broader diplomatic situation remains fraught, with the US at once involved in major standoffs in Venezuela and the North Atlantic while implementing contentious domestic policy shifts.