Trump Reverses Chevron’s Venezuela Oil License, Citing Lack of Electoral Reforms

Reuters February 27, 2025

WASHINGTON, Feb 26 (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday said he was reversing a license given to Chevron to operate in Venezuela by his predecessor Joe Biden more than two years ago, accusing President Nicolas Maduro of not making progress on electoral reforms and migrant returns.

In a post on Truth Social, Trump said he was “reversing the concessions” of the “oil transaction agreement, dated November 26, 2022.”

Trump did not name Chevron in his comments, but Washington granted Chevron a license to operate in Venezuela’s oil sector on November 26, 2022. It was the only license the administration issued for Venezuela that day.

“The U.S. government has made a damaging and inexplicable decision by announcing sanctions against the U.S. company Chevron,” Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodriguez said in a statement posted on Telegram.

She said “these kinds of failed decisions” had prompted migration out of Venezuela.

The White House did not immediately respond to requests for further detail on Trump’s comments.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio later said on X he will provide foreign policy guidance to terminate all Biden-era oil and gas licenses “that have shamefully bankrolled the illegitimate Maduro regime.”

It was not immediately clear which, if any, other companies that would affect, but the U.S. State and Treasury Departments have granted a number of licenses and authoritizations in recent years, including to foreign firms.

Chevron said it was aware of Trump’s post and was considering its implications.

Chevron exports about 240,000 barrels per day of crude from its Venezuela operations, over a quarter of the country’s entire oil output.

Ending the license means Chevron will no longer be able to export Venezuelan crude. And if Venezuela’s state oil company PDVSA exports oil previously exported by Chevron, U.S. refineries will be unable to buy it due to U.S. sanctions.

Since his return to office in January, Trump has repeatedly said the U.S. does not need Venezuelan oil and left open the possibility of revoking Chevron’s operating license.

During his first term, Trump pursued a “maximum pressure” sanctions policy against Maduro’s government, especially targeting Venezuela’s energy business.

After initially easing sanctions to encourage fair and democratic elections, Biden in April reinstated broad oil sanctions, saying Maduro failed to keep his electoral promises. But Biden had left the Chevron license intact, along with U.S. authorizations granted to several other foreign oil companies.

Tax and royalty payments resulting from Chevron’s license have provided a steady source of revenue to Maduro’s administration since early 2023, a source familiar with Venezuela’s oil industry said. The money has lifted Venezuela’s economy, especially its oil-and-banking sectors, which expanded last year.

The government take from oil activities covered by all U.S. licenses, to Chevron and a handful of European companies, is estimated between $2.1 billion and $3.2 billion annually, only considering royalties and taxes, said Jose Ignacio Hernandez from consultancy Aurora Macro Strategies.

U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright said on Wednesday after Trump’s comments that the U.S. is the world’s largest oil producer and “small interruptions from other nations” will not affect global supply.

More:

https://gcaptain.com/trump-reverses-chevrons-venezuela-oil-license-citing-lack-of-electoral-reforms/

Tariffs on China Risk Hurting U.S. Economy More Than Data Suggest, NY Fed Says

(Bloomberg) — New research suggests President Donald Trump’s latest tariffs on imports from China could hit the American economy more than official US trade data indicate.

The impact, according to a study from economists at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, will be especially severe if the Trump administration ends favorable treatment of so-called “de minimis” imports — or those valued at less than $800.

“US imports from China have decreased by much less than has been reported in official US statistics,” Hunter L. Clark, a New York Fed researcher, wrote in a blog post published on Wednesday. “As a result, the recent tariff increase on China could have a larger impact on the US economy than is suggested by official US data on the China import share.”

There is little doubt that a harsher treatment of Chinese products under the first Trump administration, much of which was continued by the Biden White House, reduced China’s share of US imports. But by how much? The answer varies depending on which country you choose to believe.

US data show that imports from China declined to 13.4% of total imports in 2024 from 21.6% in 2018. In nominal terms, they fell by $66 billion to $439 billion in that time frame.

But China’s data tell a different story. They show “exports as a share of the US import market have only declined by 2.5 percentage points, less than one-third of the decline shown in the US data,” according to the blog post. China’s data also says the nominal value of exports increased by $91.2 billion, to $524 billion.

“Simply stated, the US is saying it buys from China a lot less than what China says it is selling,” Clark wrote.

Thus, the impact of the new tariffs could be bigger than expected.

De Minimis Exemption

The hit will be amplified if Trump does away with an exemption threshold for direct-to-consumer imports. That threshold was increased to $800 from $200 in 2016, contributing to “explosive growth” in those orders that likely accounts for a large portion of the discrepancy between US and Chinese statistics, according to Clark.

Since returning to the White House in January, Trump has imposed a new 10% tariff on Chinese goods. He also announced, and then delayed, a plan to end tariff exemptions for “de minimis” merchandise from China and Hong Kong valued below $800.

Those smaller imports from China to the US are challenging to measure, but are growing fast. Figures from China conflict with estimates from the Congressional Research Service, but both sources suggest the volume has surged.

“It appears highly plausible that the US’s de minimis imports from China increased by at least 50%, or even more than doubled, and were in excess of $50 billion last year,” Clark wrote. “This suggests that US consumers could face larger consequences than meet the eye from the recent 10 percentage point tariff increase if the de minimis exception is ended for China, and Chinese sellers do not slash their profit margins by reducing their export prices.”

https://gcaptain.com/tariffs-on-china-risk-hurting-u-s-economy-more-than-data-suggest-ny-fed-says/

>>22670365

Exactly, if NY Fed hates I'm all for it

>>22670390

>Reality is, Israel OWNS the USA and everyone in its government

Wow, your shit is old

>>22670439

OK hajji

Trump Moving Ahead with Promised Tariffs on Mexico, Canada, and China

By Jeff Mason, Doina Chiacu and Andrea Shalal Reuters February 27, 2025

WASHINGTON, Feb 27 (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday said his proposed 25% tariffs on Mexican and Canadian goods will take effect March 4 along with an extra 10% duty on Chinese imports because deadly drugs are still pouring into the U.S. from those countries.

Trump told reporters in the Oval Office that the fresh tariffs on Chinese imports would stack on top of the 10% tariff that he levied on Feb. 4 over the fentanyl opioid crisis, resulting in a cumulative 20% tariff.

Trump first announced the new duties on Chinese imports in a post on his Truth Social site that he would impose the additional 10% tariff, effective March 4.

In the post, Trump said drugs, namely fentanyl, were still coming into the U.S. at “very high and unacceptable levels,” with a large percentage of them the deadly opioid fentanyl.

Trump told reporters he decided to add the extra tariffs on China and stick to the Tuesday deadline for Canada and Mexico given what his administration sees as insufficient progress on curbing fentanyl flows into the country.

Asked if Mexico and Canada had made enough progress on curbing fentanyl shipments into the U.S., Trump said: “I don’t see that at all. No, not on drugs.”

“There are ongoing discussions with the Chinese, Mexico and Canada,” a White House official told Reuters. “We’ve gotten a good handle on the migration issue, but there are still concerns on the other issue of fentanyl deaths.

Sources told Reuters that Mexico will extradite to the United States drug lord Rafael Caro Quintero, who was convicted in 1985 of murdering a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agent but released in 2013 and returned to trafficking.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, 72,776 people died from synthetic opioids in 2023 in the U.S., chiefly from fentanyl.

FOREIGN AID FREEZE

Customs and Border Patrol agents seized 991 pounds of fentanyl at the southwest border in January 2025, down 50.5% from a year earlier, but still enough to kill many millions of Americans, the White House official said.

Trump’s move to blame Mexico and Canada for the continuing flow of fentanyl into the U.S. comes as his freeze on American foreign aid is disrupting efforts to fight the illicit trade.

Reuters reported on Monday that his aid freeze has stalled the planned expansion of a United Nations program to help the Mexican Navy better screen cargo entering Mexican ports to interdict fentanyl ingredients and other contraband.

Other activities halted by the freeze include U.S. training of Mexican authorities to find and dismantle clandestine fentanyl labs and U.S. donations of drug-sniffing dogs to Mexico. But a State Department official last week told Reuters that nearly $8 million in frozen funds has since been released for anti-narcotics programs in Mexico.

Also hampering U.S. drug interdiction efforts is a decision by U.S. Customs and Border Protection to delay implementation of a ban on duty-free low-value package shipments from China, Canada and Mexico until adequate screening procedures can be put in place.

More:

https://gcaptain.com/trump-moving-ahead-with-promised-tariffs-on-mexico-canada-and-china/

>>22670552

>>22670562

Same dude was all about a government shutdown to "show Trump?"

>>22670617

Gotta be new, started the muh mason early again tonight

>>22670597

Kermit got jiggy with it though

>>22670636

Don't be late for your dilate

>>22670654

Ah yes, the Before Time

The time of the Old Fags

The last-comer of the Anons was named among the Autists Kekrandir, the Green Pilgrim for he dwelt in no place and gathered to himself neither likes nor followers, but ever went to and fro on the interwebs from /qresearch/ to /pol/ and from Reddit to Twitter befrening all fags in times of need. Warm and eager was his spirit (and it was enhanced by the ring of Nassim), for he was the Enemy of Soros, opposing the fire that devours with the flame that kindles and succours in wanhope and distress; but his joy and his swift wrath were veiled in garments as green as the pots so that only those that knew him well glimpsed the flame that was within. Merry he could be, and sought neither power nor praise, and thus far and wide he was beloved among all those that were not themselves shills. Mostly he journeyed unwearyingly by VPN, leaning on the ridiculous avatar of a smug frog and so he was called by the Men of the Kun Pepe the Green, for they deemed him (though in error as has been said) to be of Autist-kind, since he would at times work wonders of dank memery among them, loving especially the beauty of sarcasm. Yet such marvels he wrought mostly for the lulz, and because he was bored, and desired not that any should hold him in awe or take his counsels out of fear.

>>22670713

More Lies?

>>22670739

Now don't forget to do CCP and IRGC, can't have them feeling left out

>>22670757

>>22670818

>>22670593

>>22670846

Around here the cats eat first and about an hour after they walk away to do cat things I have a pair of raccoons that come by to make sure there's no leftovers

>>22670864

The dipshits are gunning for Bondi now, meanwhile Musk and DOGE carry on

PDJT is getting Europe to finally realize they need to provide for their own defense

Newsome is being quiet watching to see what happens to Maine

>>22670896

Click farms still active I see

>>22671064

Hold your breath until that happens

>>22671096

>I could just make another site

Sounds good, start right now

>>22671100

Oh yeah

>>22671168

Same playbook:

Attack Jim W if and when possible, when that fails

Attack BO, when that fails

Attack BVs, when that fails

Attack Bakers, when that fails

Attack anons in general, when that fails

Attack specific anon, when that fails

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