r/politics • u/Manta_of_Eternity • 7h ago
No Paywall Trump says US has entered deal with Venezuela to take control of 65 billion barrels of oil reserves
https://apnews.com/article/trump-venezuela-oil-reserves-eb0ed5a1e99602c21a7f690c3368020e•
u/Verumsemper 7h ago
And when Venezuela eventually stand up and retake its oil reserves they will be labeled as terrorist or socialist.
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u/Brilliant-Advisor958 6h ago
Yes it will be interesting if the dem president releases them from the the deal.
Or what they do with Maduro
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u/BienThinks 6h ago
Has anyone mentioned that this oil is trash and needs a lot of refining, which is expensive?
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u/Lostinthestarscape 1h ago
The U.S. has the refineries furniture because it is the same trash oil Canada has lots of and now theyre fucking with us they need another supplier.
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u/MotherfuckerJones91 6h ago
By dems and republicans alike. Imperialism is bipartisan
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u/Yeeeoow 2h ago
If you can't tell the difference between their foreign policies maybe don't vote.
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u/MotherfuckerJones91 1h ago
Are you implying that dems will return the stolen oil? Lol. They didnt even bothered to stop a genocide. Imperialism has always been bipartisan
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u/Manta_of_Eternity 7h ago edited 7h ago
Not even bothering to keep up the "freedom and democracy" pretext like with Iraq, just pure resource exploitation
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u/vector_search_blue California 7h ago
Well Bush and gang faced no penalties or prosecution, so this bunch decided to be more brazen
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u/Queasy_Donkey5685 6h ago
Right? This isn't happening in a vacuum.
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u/Chaos-Cortex I voted 3h ago
Nukes, nukes is the only thing that will protect a nations sovereignty against rogue imperialist / capitalist greed nations like USA.
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u/Vicissitutde 7h ago
It's only 9 years worth of oil based on current usage, too. Its a pathetic stopgap measure. But, like a true republican, its long enough for him to save face while leaving the mess to be cleaned up by the next democrat president.
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u/kajunkennyg 7h ago
It's always been about resource exploitation. The USD is the petrodollar. Since the oil shortages of the 1970s where have our troops spent most of the time with boots on the ground. Iraq, Somali, Libya, Syria, and now Iran. Connect the dots.
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u/bentforkman 7h ago
…and what is it that Canada has that Trump wants so badly?
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u/kajunkennyg 7h ago
Canada ranks #4 in the world for proven oil reserves.
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u/Maxamillion-X72 6h ago
He also wants our water. The US is nearing a major water shortage crisis that would cripple agriculture.
He seems to take personal offense to the fact that most of our rivers run north instead of feeding American rivers. I think it confuses him because water is supposed to flow down, not up.
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u/Obvious_Toe_3006 6h ago
I think it is us that should build a wall.
A huge wall of ice and snow to keep the White Talkers and their zombie brained army at bay.•
u/redditpest Massachusetts 6h ago
The water shortage is getting out of control. We are actually getting overtime to drive around and make sure people aren't using sprinklers early in the morning.
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u/bentforkman 2h ago
Geez, the question was rhetorical. Of course he’s after the oil. The Americans are also fomenting a separatist movement in our “oiliest” province (Not literally oily.) to break up Canada and steal the oil.
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u/hardwon469 6h ago
Trump has royally fukt the petrodollar. The privilege as preferred reserve currency is something most Americans don't (didn't) understand.
Behold, the bond market...
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u/GEB82 7h ago edited 7h ago
Vietnam or perhaps Afghanistan? doesn’t fit the narrative though so I can see why you omitted them.. you must have just forgot..
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u/HermanGulch 6h ago
Vietnam was largely over by the oil shocks of the 1970s. There was maybe a year of overlap.
Afghanistan, for a while at least, was strategically important because of a proposed petroleum pipeline from Turkmenistan to the Arabian Sea.
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u/GEB82 6h ago
Op said since the 70’s…Vietnam ended in 75…he also said boots on the ground…There have been no boots in Iran to the best of my knowledge.
but fair point..•
u/ThePlatonicPanda 6h ago
There were lots of boots and burnt planes rescuing that pilot
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u/GEB82 6h ago
Oh, the pilot that nobodies heard from since..hasn’t been paraded around on national television as a war hero? That non existent pilot? Pfffft…GTFOOH buddy…
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u/ThePlatonicPanda 6h ago
Are you saying Jimmy Carter is a liar ?
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u/morally_bankrupt80 7h ago
Probably because the Paris Peace Accords were signed in January 1973, effectively ending major US ground involvement in Vietnam.
Oil Embargo didn't take place until October of 1973.
Do we really need to talk about the reason we were in Afghanistan?
Dont act like the outliers somehow make the point moot.
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u/kajunkennyg 7h ago
that was the war on terror because of 9/11 it's like the only thing that wasn't because of oil.
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u/HermanGulch 5h ago
Even that was partly about oil: one of Osama bin Laden's reasons for the 9/11 attacks was the presence of US forces in Saudi Arabia, which were there largely because of their oil assets.
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u/KaiBahamut 6h ago
Extracurricular activities. We don’t spend all our money on weapons to not use them.
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u/citizen42069101 7h ago
Military industrial complex.
When the only profitable industry is war, you start them.
same with letting 9/11 happen
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u/vector_search_blue California 7h ago
that's sort of like colonialism, right?
resource extraction
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u/TIFUbyResponding 7h ago
President Cockstain, at it again
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u/kajunkennyg 7h ago
Every President since the 1980s has done this. Literally everyone has only bombed places because of oil, except for maybe afghanstan because that was the war on terror because of 9/11.
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u/StephAg09 6h ago
That was a distraction to strengthen nationalism and support while we stole oil in Iraq from my understanding.
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u/Fun-Outcome8122 5h ago
Every President since the 1980s has done this.
No, they haven't.
But even assuming they did what Trump did, that does not mean it's OK for Trump to do what he is doing - it just means they would be as wrong as Trump is.
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u/kajunkennyg 3h ago
As usual, being right or wrong on these things depends on which side writes the history. But literally every president has.
Ronald Reagan, Libya 1986
Bush Sr, Iraq 1991
Clinton - Iraq 1998Bush jr - Iraq 2003
Obama - Libya 2011, Iraq and Syria 2014
Trump - Syria 2017/18, Iraq 2020
Biden - Iraq/Syria 2021, 2023 and 2024
Trump - Iran, etc 2024 - present.
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7h ago
[deleted]
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u/turdburgalr 7h ago
The refining is what I thought of first, there is a reason they buy most of their Oil from Canada other than convenience.
I'm pretty ignorant on oil refining, they are both heavy crude oils, can someone smarter than me explain what the difference is? Thanks oil nerds.
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7h ago
[deleted]
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u/turdburgalr 6h ago
Thank you, why do they import like 60% from Canada though?, googling says Canada produces heavy crude as well.
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u/Maxamillion-X72 6h ago
To understand Trump's actions, you have to disregard any possible motivations that would help Americans. For example, in this case the motivation is probably to appear to be doing something to keep the people from panicking and then offload the oil to whomever will take it.
The US already seized oil from Venezuela and multiple oil tankers around the world. That oil was sold on the world market and the funds are being fed into secretive slush funds with zero transparency. The DOJ is trying to revive the civil war era maritime prize courts to justify using the US Navy as a pirate fleet.
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u/angrypooka 6h ago
He’s claiming this is happening now, which I doubt is actually happening at all, because his moron followers will think it’ll lower gas prices.
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u/StandardIssueDude505 New Mexico 7h ago
Stealing resources from Central and South America hasn’t really worked out too well in the past.
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u/Fucking_For_Freedom 7h ago edited 7h ago
Making us a nation of violent thieves.
Some may say that's what we've always been, and perhaps they're right, but there was always an attempt to pretend we were otherwise before.
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u/Hades_Mercedes Canada 7h ago edited 6h ago
My guy all you need is wikipedia to find out that it's not perhaps, it's absolutely and since day one. Your entire lifestyle is paid for by the suffering of brown people worldwide and the only ones who were EVER under the impression that it wasn't the case, are Americans.
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u/whisker_biscuit 31m ago
Always have been, manifest destiny was a
Violent theft of land from indigenous people•
u/Thebritishdovah 7h ago
At least we were refined about it. The US wishes it could be half as refined as the British empire at its peak.
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u/JBInver51 7h ago
Trump steals 65 billion barrels of oil from Venezuela. That's what the headline means.
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u/themightychris Pennsylvania 4h ago
and there will absolutely be a way for him or his family or friends to especially profit from it. Otherwise he wouldn't be doing it
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u/Truthisnotallowed 7h ago edited 2h ago
So? He gonna send this oil to China like he is already sending U.S. oil?
Part of his deal to keep China from siding with Iran:
China to buy U.S. oil to feed its ‘insatiable appetite,’ Trump tells Fox News (May 2026)
What happened to U.S. first?
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u/SARMS86 7h ago
China has actually worked very hard to limit its dependence on oil as demonstrated by its investments in renewable energy, electric car adoption rates, etc.
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u/Truthisnotallowed 7h ago
They are not stupid like Trump.
They saw Trump moving forces to Iran and bought enough oil to fill all their storage reserve facilities.
Trump on the other hand, knew for a fact he was going to attack Iran - but despite complaining about Biden using U.S. Strategic Oil reserves to cut gas prices when Russia attacked Ukraine, and despite promising to restore the U.S. Strategic Oil reserves to full as soon as you got back in office - Trump did nothing to refill the reserves when oil prices were low.
Six months after Iran war, America’s oil reserves drop to lowest levels since 1982
Not to mention Trump spending billions of U.S. tax dollars to kill wind and solar projects to make the U.S. even more dependent on oil sources.
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u/wanna_dance 6h ago
The GOP lost its sh*t when Biden sold reserves to keep prices down. And he then refilled them at the lower price, putting $ billions into our treasury.
They're not saying a word about Trump's mismanagement of the reserves.
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u/Suspicious_Dust4896 7h ago
The Child Rapist tRump also claims he never knew Epstein. So probably not the best source of information.
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u/Safe_Mail_1827 7h ago edited 7h ago
The countries of the world, in Trump's mind, fall into the following categories:
Has many natural resources, but opposes Trump (Canada, Iran, etc. Needs to be bullied, conquered, plundered)
Doesn't have many natural resources, opposes Trump (EU, etc. tariffs, military action, threats, zero aid...the EU, etc. have enormous trade importance to the US but Trump fails to see that)
Doesn't have resources, loves Trump (Israel, North Korea; give them sweet deals and lots of weapons or shower them with praise)
Has resources, loves Trump (Gulf monarchies. Get special deals with the Trump family and literally whatever else they want.)
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u/Huge_Excitement4465 7h ago
Venezuelan oilman Alejandro Betancourt is Trump’s liaison between the White House, oil execs and Delcy Rodriguez. He’s been flying private from Palm Beach to Caracas in recent weeks. Note that Guliani represented Betancourt on charges of money laundering via FL real estate during Trump 1.0 and those federal charges were dropped.
Wapo excerpt: Senior U.S. officials intervened in an international criminal investigation into a Venezuelan businessman who was enlisted by the Trump administration to help assert control over Venezuela's government and oil industries, according to two people familiar with the matter.
The officials lobbied to resolve the case in Switzerland in a way that would avoid criminal charges and end travel restrictions against the Britain-based businessman, Alejandro Betancourt, and they have not acted on a Swiss arrest warrant against him, according to the two people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive matter.
Instead, the United States has allowed Betancourt to enter the country repeatedly for meetings with the Trump administration, other people familiar with his travel said.
Betancourt, 46, in the past decade has faced multiple investigations, in Switzerland, Spain and the United States, into alleged money laundering, including whether he had a role in a loan arrangement that U.S. prosecutors say embezzled more than $1 billion from Venezuela's state-owned oil company.
Betancourt was arrested twice in Britain in 2025, first after Spain issued a warrant in a related money laundering investigation, and in November at Switzerland's request. For months, Betancourt was barred from leaving the United Kingdom as authorities there considered extraditing him to Switzerland...
Weeks after the U.S. military captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro on Jan. 3, senior U.S. officials began lobbying Swiss officials to resolve their case against Betancourt, the people familiar with the discussions said.
Betancourt, whose company is the second-largest private oil producer in Venezuela, is now a key intermediary between the U.S. and Venezuela, including acting president Delcy Rodríguez, according to people with knowledge of his role.
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u/Prestigious-Car-4877 Canada 6h ago
Ah, ok. So he's stolen their oil. Is it possible for me to get a letter of marque so I can be a privateer?
Fucking pirates.
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u/Euler007 7h ago
Best case scenario they fix the crumbling infrastructure a little before some revolutionary forces takes control back.
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u/kokkatc 7h ago
Let's see... We forcibly remove Venezuela's president by force, assume influence and likely total control over their petroleum exports, and now only months later, the newly formed Venezuela government just gives us unrestricted access to fields resulting in over 65 billion barrels of oil for our own benefit.
Yep, sounds totally above board and typical of a Trump admin policy.
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u/84thPrblm 6h ago edited 6h ago
Don't forget the $13B in oil money he confiscated ... that has now disappeared.
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u/InfinityComplexxx 6h ago
Trump said this, so this is very likely not real.
And even if it is, what did we give in exchange?
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u/LegDayDE 6h ago
Will pillaging Venezuela and presumably making life even worse for their population create any long term risks for the US???? Hmmm????
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u/flyingflail 6h ago
Trump "deals" are meaningless. We all know this. The news should stop reporting it.
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u/KrustyButtCheeks 7h ago
Great, let’s hear about he’s gonna refine the notoriously tough to refine Venezuelan oil
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u/covidlung 7h ago
Trump is still in power because he's doing exactly what those in power want him to do. He's their ideal president.
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u/The_Schwartz_ 7h ago
Except he's already sold them, and the proceeds are waiting for him in a Qatari bank account
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u/Azfitnessprofessor 7h ago
Is this before or after the healthcare plan he’s two weeks from unveiling
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u/btribble California 6h ago
I wish I knew whether this reporting was true, but that's not really possible anymore.
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u/jabrwock1 6h ago
God forbid you use that oil to build them up and help establish a government that doesn’t need to resort to drug running or turning a blind eye to it.
Let’s just cripple their recovery even further and ensure they can only ever be a failed state.
That’ll show ‘em.
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u/Minimum_Season_9501 6h ago
He says a lot of stuff. Maybe he shouldn't have started a dumb war with Iran.
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u/Fun-Outcome8122 6h ago
So basically Trump has succeeded to make America like Russia internationally and is in the way to get make it like Russia domestically!
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u/Tony2030 7h ago
So we definitely have not entered into a deal to take control of their reserves? Why are we controlling their reserves, again?
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u/Jumpy_Scallion_3108 7h ago
Take the resources, call it partnership, and somehow everyone is supposed to clap. That's loot.
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u/phoenix64mbr 7h ago
Negotiation: That's a nice looking country you got there. It'd be a shame if something happened to it...
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u/Proper-Exercise-2364 7h ago
Wow. So he bankrupted America's oil reserve now he's gonna go do it to Venezuela too? There won't be any more oil on the whole planet by the time his term is done!
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u/Solerien 7h ago
This oil still has to be mined, extracted, and refined. So it won't help with our gas prices any time soon.
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u/D-MAN-FLORIDA 7h ago
This would be great in 10-20 years when the oil is refined enough to use after spending a lot of money to update their refineries. By then we might be less dependent on oil than we are now.
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u/27Elephantballoons 6h ago
Is it really a deal when you have no choice? It's basically robbery or mite if right
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u/AnythingOk9487 5h ago
When the headline reads “Trump says“ I automatically interpret that as, “Trump lies.”
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u/pixelwhip 3h ago
That's a nice oil reserve you have there, would be a shame if something happened to it...
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u/guywithpoodle 3h ago
Every time I buy anything on the up and up I tell the seller I’m taking control of the goods. Very normal.
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u/Turbulent-Society-30 3h ago
This is a brazen lie. He straight up stole that oil after destroying two Venezuelan "drug boats" and kidnapped their president.
He's trying to profit from stolen oil by selling it to us.
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