Trump imposes 25% tariff on countries buying Venezuela’s oil

President Donald Trump announced plans to impose a 25% tariff on any country purchasing oil or gas from Venezuela in an attempt to crack down on Venezuela’s hostility toward the United States, according to a post on Truth Social.

'The return of our compatriots to their nation.'

The post read, “President Donald J. Trump announced today that the United States of America will be putting what is known as a Secondary Tariff on the Country of Venezuela, for numerous reasons, including the fact that Venezuela 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.”

The post called returning Tren de Aragua gang members to Venezuela “a big task.”

“In addition, Venezuela has been very hostile to the United States and the Freedoms which we espouse,” it added.

“Therefore, any Country that purchases Oil and/or Gas from Venezuela will be forced to pay a Tariff of 25% to the United States on any Trade they do with our Country,” Trump’s post continued.

The tariffs are slated to go into effect on April 2.

“Please let this notification serve to represent that the Department of Homeland Security, Border Patrol, and all other Law Enforcement Agencies within our Country have been so notified,” the post read.

The New York Times reported that the U.S. and China have led Venezuelan oil purchases in recent months, with India and Spain buying smaller volumes.

With Venezuelan oil making up a slim percentage of China’s imports, Jorge León, a Rystad Energy research analyst, told the Times that he expects China will seek alternative sources to dodge the additional tariffs.

On Saturday, Venezuela announced that it had reached an agreement with the Trump administration to resume repatriation flights. Nicolas Maduro’s regime had previously refused to take back Venezuelan citizens, briefly prompting Trump to deport violent gang members to El Salvador instead.

Jorge Rodríguez, the president of the National Assembly of Venezuela, stated, “We have agreed with the U.S. government to resume the repatriation of Venezuelan migrants with an initial flight tomorrow, Sunday.”

Rodríguez claimed that Venezuela reached the deal to allow “the return of our compatriots to their nation with the safeguard of their Human Rights.”

“Migrating is not a crime, and we will not rest until we achieve the return of all those who require it and until we rescue our brothers kidnapped in El Salvador,” he added.

Sunday’s deportation flight carried 199 Venezuelan nationals, including alleged Tren de Aragua gang members, back to their home country.

Maduro claimed that Venezuela had resumed the repatriation flights “to rescue and release migrants from U.S. prisons.”

He slammed the president of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, for accepting 238 deported Venezuelan nationals.

“You guarantee their health and, sooner rather than later, you have to hand them over and release them, because they are kidnapped,” he declared.

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