U.S. President Donald Trump has ordered “a total and complete blockade” of all sanctioned oil tankers entering and leaving Venezuela, and labelled the government of President Nicolas Maduro “a foreign terrorist organisation”, sharply escalating his pressure campaign against the South American nation.
In a social media post, Mr. Trump said the “the illegitimate Maduro regime is using oil” from the fields stolen from the U.S., “to finance themselves, drug terrorism, human trafficking, murder and kidnapping”.
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 organization,” wrote Mr. Trump. “Therefore, today, i am ordering a total and complete blockade of all sanctioned oil tankers going into, and out of, Venezuela.”
Mr. Trump’s announcement came days after the U.S. seized a tanker carrying Venezuelan crude off its coast, tightening its stranglehold over the Maduro regime. The U.S. has already carried out dozens of air strikes in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific waters on boats which it said were carrying drugs. The U.S. is also building up military presence around Venezuela, triggering speculations that it could start a new bombing campaign inside the country.
The U.S. Navy’s largest aircraft carrier, USS Gerald Ford, has been deployed to the Caribbean along with a carrier strike group, including war ships. F-35A stealth jet fighters, EA-18G Growler planes, HH-60W rescue helicopters and HC-130J rescue planes are staged in Puerto Rico in Venezuela’s neighbourhood. The U.S. says the Maduro regime is closely tied to a drug cartel, without providing any evidence.
“Venezuela is completely surrounded by the largest armada ever assembled in the history of South America,” Mr. Trump wrote in his post on Tuesday (December 16, 2025). “It will only get bigger, and the shock to them will be like nothing they have ever seen before.”
When the U.S. seized the tanker, Mr. Maduro showed defiance and accused Washington of naval piracy. “We have to be like warriors, with one eye peeled and the other as well,” he said.
On Wednesday (December 17, 2025), in response to Mr. Trump’s decision to impose the blockade, the Venezuelan government said in a statement: “The president of the United States is trying in an absolutely irrational manner to impose a supposed military naval blockade on Venezuela to steal the riches of our homeland. Venezuela will never go back to being a colony of the empire, nor any other foreign power.”
But the Trump administration’s decision to expand the pressure campaign targeting the tankers is expected to enhance the economic pressure on the already embattled regime of Mr. Maduro. Crude sales represent more than 90% of Venezuela’s export income. Venezuela is mostly dependent on a so-called shadow fleet to send its oil to receiving countries, mostly China. Venezuela is moving more than 600,000 barrels of oil every day, but the U.S. blockade could paralyse the tanker traffic which in turn would further squeeze the government’s finances.
Trump officials have said in the recent past the administration’s objective was to force out Mr. Maduro. María Corina Machado, the Venezuelan opposition leader who won this year’s Nobel Peace Prize, has said she “absolutely supports President Trump’s strategy” on Venezuela. Earlier this month, Mr. Trump himself said Mr. Maduro’s “days are numbered”. The White House has signalled that the U.S. would seize more tankers carrying Venezuelan fuel.
“America will not allow criminals, terrorists, or other countries, to rob, threaten, or harm our nation and, likewise, will not allow a hostile regime to take our oil, land, or any other assets, all of which must be returned to the United States, immediately,” Mr. Trump said on Tuesday (December 16, 2025).
Published – December 17, 2025 05:53 pm IST
