President Donald Trump on Monday announced a “Secondary Tariff” on Venezuela, declaring that any country that purchases oil or gas from them will be forced to pay an additional 25 percent on any trade they do with the U.S.
Citing violent Venezuelan gangs like Tren de Aragua (TdA), Trump wrote on Truth Social that the South American nation “has purposefully and deceitfully sent to the United States, undercover, tens of thousands of high level, and other, criminals, many of whom are murderers and people of a very violent nature”:
“Therefore, any Country that purchases Oil and/or Gas from Venezuela will be forced to pay a Tariff of 25 percent to the United States on any Trade they do with our Country,” the president explained, adding that the tariff will go into effect on April 2 — a date that he has labeled “Liberation Day in America.”
April 2 has been the date previously mentioned by Trump as the day the country will launch “reciprocal tariffs” on nations that charge “us a tax or tariff,” Breitbart News reported.
In a Monday statement to reporters at the White House, the president said that he “may give a lot of countries breaks.”
“It’s reciprocal, but we might be even nicer than that. You know, we’ve been very nice to a lot of countries for a long time,” Trump asserted, according to the Hill.
“We may take less than what they’re charging, because they’ve charged us so much I don’t think they could take it,” he added. “But it will be substantial.”
Trump also signaled additional tariffs on goods such as automobiles, lumber, and semiconductors coming as soon as this week, the outlet reported.
With the oil and gas tariff declared on Venezuela, the U.S. has handed Chevron a two-month extension to wind down its exports from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) member, CNBC reported.
Calling the Trump administration’s extension for Chevron an “expected move,” the outlet reported that the petroleum giant’s license to export oil to the U.S. from Venezuela will now last until May 27 after the president initially gave the company 30 days from March 4.
Chevron has continued to lobby the U.S. government’s decision to revoke its license to operate in the Nicolás Maduro-controlled nation — a move made under the first Trump administration before being reversed by the Biden administration and reversed again once Trump reentered office, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The secondary tariffs were reportedly discussed in a White House meeting last week attended by Chevron CEO Mike Wirth.
Bloomberg reported last week that the Biden administration “secretly permitted” Chevron to pay hundreds of millions of dollars to the Maduro’s administration to retain the ability to export oil from Venezuela, citing sources familiar with the matter.
China, which is already a target of Trump’s tariffs, is Venezuela’s largest buyer of oil — its largest export, according to CNBC.
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