President Trump has ordered the termination of a key oil deal with Maduro's Venezuela, announcing in a post on Truth Social that he was "reversing the concessions" of the "oil transaction agreement, dated November 26, 2022."
These were concessions enacted by his Democratic predecessor Joe Biden, which had allowed Chevron Corp - active in the Latin American country for a century - to produce and sell oil in Venezuela despite sanctions.
"Under the terms of the license, Chevron would have to exit Venezuela by the end of July," Bloomberg reports in the aftermath of the announcement.
Trump's post says: "We are hereby reversing the concessions that Crooked Joe Biden gave to Nicolás Maduro, of Venezuela, on the oil transaction agreement, dated November 26, 2022, and also having to do with Electoral conditions within Venezuela, which have not been met by the Maduro regime."
While Trump did not specifically mention Chevron in the post, it was the only license the Biden administration issued for Venezuela on that day. The Houston-based company hasn't commented within the hours after the announcement.
This is will be a huge blow to the already battered Venezuelan economy, after a top Trump diplomatic envoy visited Caracas at the very end of July and brought home six imprisoned Americans.
At that moment, the Maduro government was hoping for a reset, based on apparently pledges to take back tens of thousands of illegal migrants.
At that time Trump had announced Venezuela would take back members of the Tren de Aragua transnational gang that has recently expanded into America from various Latin American countries. And the WSJ had reported that Maduro's government would provide transport for its citizens to return.
However, Trump is now saying essentially time's up and that not enough action has been taken:
Trump said Venezuela has not been transporting the "violent criminals" that they sent into the US back to Venezuela at the "rapid pace" that they had agreed.
Bloomberg notes: "Dollar bonds from Venezuela and its state-oil company fell to the day’s low on the announcement.
Given the short timeline of the concession under Biden, and given unpredictable geopolitical tensions, Chevron has not heavily invested capital in the country but instead has focused on repairs and maintenance in Venezuela, as well as recouping debt owed.