Trump Orders ‘Blockade’ Of Sanctioned Oil Tankers Leaving, Entering Venezuela

U.S. President Donald Trump ordered on Tuesday a “blockade” of all sanctioned oil tankers entering and leaving Venezuela, in Washington’s latest move to increase pressure on Nicolas Maduro’s government, targeting its main source of income.

It is unclear how Trump will impose the move against the sanctioned vessels, and whether he will turn to the Coast Guard to interdict vessels like he did last week.

The administration has moved thousands of troops and nearly a dozen warships – including an aircraft carrier – to the region.

“For the theft of our Assets, and many other reasons, including Terrorism, Drug Smuggling, and Human Trafficking, the Venezuelan Regime has been designated a foreign terrorist organization,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

“Therefore, today, I am ordering a total and complete blockade of all sanctioned oil tankers going into, and out of, Venezuela.”

In a statement, Venezuela’s government said it rejected Trump’s “grotesque threat.”

Oil prices rose more than 1% in Asian trade on Wednesday.

Brent crude futures LCOc1 were up 70 cents, or 1.2%, at $59.62 a barrel at 0245 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude CLc1 rose 73 cents, or 1.3%, to $56.00 a barrel.

U.S. crude futures climbed over 1% to $55.96 a barrel in Asian trading after Trump’s announcement.

Oil prices settled at $55.27 a barrel on Tuesday, the lowest close since February 2021.

Oil market participants said prices were rising in anticipation of a potential reduction in Venezuelan exports, although they were still waiting to see how Trump’s blockade would be enforced and whether it would extend to include non-sanctioned vessels.

American presidents have broad discretion to deploy U.S. forces abroad, but Trump’s asserted blockade marks a new test of presidential authority, said international law scholar Elena Chachko of UC Berkeley Law School.

Blockades have traditionally been treated as permissible “instruments of war,” but only under strict conditions, Chachko said.

“There are serious questions on both the domestic law front and international law front,” she added.

U.S. Representative Joaquin Castro, a Texas Democrat, called the blockade “unquestionably an act of war.”

“A war that the Congress never authorized and the American people do not want,” Castro added on X.

There has been an effective embargo in place after the U.S. seized a sanctioned oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela last week, with loaded vessels carrying millions of barrels of oil staying in Venezuelan waters rather than risk seizure.

Since the seizure, Venezuelan crude exports have fallen sharply, a situation worsened by a cyberattack that knocked down state-run PDVSA’s administrative systems this week.

While many vessels picking up oil in Venezuela are under sanctions, others transporting the country’s oil and crude from Iran and Russia have not been sanctioned, and some companies, particularly the U.S.’ Chevron (CVX.N), transport Venezuelan oil in their own authorized ships.