Trump Orders Blockade of Sanctioned Oil Tankers to Venezuela
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US President Donald Trump ordered a blockade of all sanctioned oil tankers entering and leaving Venezuela, as reported by Reuters earlier today, December 17.
Trump’s order came yesterday, December 16, and it represents Washington’s latest move to increase pressure on Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his government.
Trump Moves Forces To Block Venezuelan Exports
Trump’s idea is to target the country’s main source of income, but Reuters writes that it remains unclear how Trump will impose the move against the sanctioned vessels, as well as whether he will turn to the Coast Guard to interdict vessels like he did last week.
So far, the Trump Administration has already moved thousands of troops, as well as nearly a dozen warships to the region, including an aircraft carrier.
Posting on Truth Social, Trump said that the Venezuelan Regime has been designated a “foreign terrorist organization, citing reasons such as “the theft of our assets, and many other reasons, including terrorism, drug smuggling, and human trafficking.”
“Therefore, today, I am ordering A TOTAL AND COMPLETE BLOCKADE OF ALL SANCTIONED OIL TANKERS going into, and out of, Venezuela,” he added in the post.
Reuters has noted that the Venezuelan government has responded with a statement of its own, rejecting Trump’s “grotesque threat.”
Oil Prices Rise In Anticipation Of The Blockade
Following the statements, oil prices went up by over 1% in Asian trade on Wednesday, while Brent crude futures LCOc1 were up 70 cents, or 1.2%, at $59.62 a barrel at 0245 GMT. Meanwhile, US West Texas Intermediate crude CLc1 rose 73 cents, or around 1.3% to $56.00 a barrel.
The report also noted that oil market participants said that the prices were on the rise in anticipation of a potential reduction in Venezuelan exports, even though they were still waiting to see how Trump’s blockade would be enforced, and if it would be extended to include non-sanctioned vessels, as well.
It is also worth noting that, while American presidents have a rather broad discretion to deploy US forces abroad, Trump’s blockade will truly test the presidential authority, as remarked by Elena Chachko, an international law scholar of UC Berkeley Law School.
Others have criticized the decision as well, with US Representative Joaquin Castro, a Texas Democrat, calling the blockade “unquestionably an act of war.” Traditionally, blockades have been treated as instruments of war in the past, although only under quite strict conditions, as Chachko added.
