President Donald Trump announced that he would reimpose all sanctions from his first administration on Venezuela. President Joe Biden granted some companies temporary licenses to do business in Venezuela in an effort to improve ties with Caracas.
“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,” Trump wrote on TruthSocial. “I am therefore ordering that the ineffective and unmet Biden “Concession Agreement” be terminated as of the March 1st option to renew. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”
During Donald Trump’s first administration, he significantly stepped up sanctions on Venezuela, a policy known as “maximum pressure.” Additionally, he backed a coup attempt by Juan Guaido against President Nicolas Maduro.
The Biden administration made some efforts to warm ties with Caracas but with no notable success. In October 2023, the Biden administration lifted some sanctions on Venezuela’s mining and oil sectors, and Maduro agreed to hold elections in 2024.
The deal quickly crumbled after the Venezuelan Supreme Court barred Washington’s two preferred candidates from running in the election, and the sanctions were reimposed.
US oil giant Chevron was granted a license in 2022 to do business with Caracas. However, the total sanctions regime against the Venezuelan economy has limited the impact of that venture.
While Trump leveled charges of election rigging against Maduro to justify canceling the Chevron deal, he added that Caracas was not accepting deportation flights from the US at a fast enough pace. “Additionally, the regime has not been transporting the violent criminals that they sent into our Country (the Good Ole’ U.S.A.) back to Venezuela at the rapid pace that they had agreed to,” the President wrote.
Shortly after Trump returned to the White House in January, Crisis Envoy Ric Grenell met with Maduro and secured the release of six Americans. Maduro also agreed to accept Venezuelan nationals deported from the US.
Maduro viewed the meeting with Grenell as an opening to improve ties with Washinton. However, Secretary of State Marco Rubio then traveled to the Dominican Republic and seized Maduro’s plane, alleging the aircraft was used to violate sanctions.
