US President Donald Trump has ordered 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 the order will be imposed, and whether Mr Trump will turn to the US Coast Guard to intercept vessels as he did last week. The US 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 organisation,” Mr Trump wrote on Truth Social.
“Therefore, today, I am ordering a total and complete blockage of all sanctioned oil tankers going into, and out of, Venezuela.”
Caracas said it rejected Mr Trump's “grotesque threat”.
Oil traders said prices were rising in anticipation of a potential reduction in Venezuelan exports, although they were still waiting to see how the blockade would be enforced and whether it would extend to include non-sanctioned vessels.
American presidents have broad discretion to deploy US forces abroad, but Mr Trump’s intended blockade marks a new test of presidential authority, international law scholar Elena Chachko of UC Berkeley Law School told Reuters.
Blockades have traditionally been treated as permissible “instruments of war”, but only under strict conditions, Ms Chachko said. “There are serious questions on both the domestic law front and international law front.”
US Representative Joaquin Castro, a Texas Democrat, called the blockade “unquestionably an act of war”.
“A war that the Congress never authorised and the American people do not want,” Mr Castro wrote on X.
There has been an effective embargo in place after the US 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 cyber attack that knocked out state-run oil company PDVSA's administrative systems this week.
While many vessels picking up oil in Venezuela are under sanctions, others from Iran and Russia transporting the country's oil and crude have not been penalised. Some companies − particularly the US's Chevron − transport Venezuelan oil in their own authorised ships.
Two US officials said the new policy, if implemented fully, could have a major impact on Mr Maduro's government.
Since the US imposed energy sanctions on Venezuela in 2019, traders and refiners buying Venezuelan oil have resorted to a “shadow fleet” of tankers that disguise their location and to vessels sanctioned for transporting Iranian or Russian oil.
As of last week, more than 30 of the 80 ships in Venezuelan waters or approaching the country were under US sanctions, according to data compiled by TankerTrackers.com.
Mr Trump's pressure campaign on Mr Maduro has also included more than two dozen military strikes on vessels in the Pacific Ocean and in the Caribbean, which have killed at least 90 people.
The US President has also said that US land strikes on Venezuela will start soon.
Mr Maduro says the US military build-up is aimed at overthrowing him and gaining control of the Opec nation's oil resources. Venezuela has the world's largest crude reserves.
