US President Donald Trump
US President Donald Trump Photo: AP
Alongside new tariffs on Venezuela itself, US President Donald Trump on Monday announced a 25 percent tariff on imports from countries purchasing oil or gas from Venezuela.
Taking it to his social media platform Truth Social, Trump announced that Venezuela has been “very hostile” to the US and countries purchasing oil from it will be forced to pay the tariff on all their trade to the US starting April 2.
The US president further added that Venezuela will also face a “Secondary” tariff because it is the home to the gang Tren de Aragua. The Trump administration is deporting immigrants that it claims are members of that gang who illegally crossed into the United States.
Photo: Credit: X/@typesfast
US-Venezuela Feud Over Deportation
Trump's tariff announcement came amid a feud with Venezuela over the deportation issue which got suspended last month when Trump claimed Caracas had not lived up to a deal to quickly receive deported migrants. Venezuela subsequently said it would no longer accept the flights.
However, as a latest development, Caracas reportedly came to an agreement with Washington to resume repatriations after which nearly 200 Venezuelan citizens were deported from the United States via Honduras.
Impact Of Tariff On Venezuelan Oil
The latest impositions on countries purchasing gas and oil from Venezuela are likely to impact China, Venezuela’s largest foreign customer. Earlier, the Trump administration has already imposed 20 percent tariffs on imports from China.
As per a report by India Today, the latest tariffs could heavily increase taxes for China, which bought 68 percent of Venezuela's oil in 2023. Besides China, Venezuela's other significant buyers include Spain, Russia, Singapore, and Vietnam.
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Will India Get Affected?
Trump's latest decision is likely to affect India too as Venezuela exports oil to India.
Citing data, NDTV reported that in December 2023 and January 2024, India was the top buyer of Venezuelan crude oil. While New Delhi imported approximately 191,600 barrels per day initially, later it rose to over 254,000 in the following month.
In January 2024, India was importing nearly half of Venezuela's total oil exports (almost 557,000 bpd for the month). In 2024, India imported 22 million barrels of oil from Venezuela, which made up 1.5 per cent of the country's total crude oil purchases.
In February, Venezuela also exported some 500,000 barrels of oil per day to China and this figure was 240,000 barrels for the United States, according to a report by AFP.