Trump: Countries Buying Oil From Venezuela Subject to 25% Tariff on All Exports to U.S.
President Donald Trump posted on social media that countries that buy oil 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. All documentation will be signed and registered, and the Tariff will take place on April 2nd, 2025, LIBERATION DAY IN AMERICA. 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."
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
If your job depends on informed compliance, you need International Trade Today. Delivered every business day and available any time online, only International Trade Today helps you stay current on the increasingly complex international trade regulatory environment.
In the last few years, the U.S. has been the second-largest buyer of Venezuelan oil, according to Reuters, after China, but European countries, India, Colombia, Brazil, Panama and Cuba have also received shipments, the wire service wrote.
It's not clear whether this will start to apply only once future purchases are made, or whether there will be tariffs punishing purchases in the last few months.
Trump called this "a Secondary Tariff" and said it was being imposed "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."
"In addition, Venezuela has been very hostile to the United States and the Freedoms which we espouse."