President Donald Trump said Wednesday that Venezuela must repay the United States for oil assets he says were illegally seized by the South American nation, sharpening his rhetoric as tensions continue to rise between Washington and the regime of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
Speaking to reporters at Joint Base Andrews, Trump accused Venezuela of taking American energy assets during a period when U.S. leadership failed to act. “You remember, they took all of our energy rights. They took all of our oil from not that long ago, and we want it back,” Trump said. “But they took it; they illegally took it.”
The president said American companies were forced out of Venezuela and stripped of valuable oil rights. “They took it away because we had a president that maybe wasn’t watching, but they’re not going to do that,” Trump continued. “We want it back. They took our oil rights, we had a lot of oil there, as you know, they threw our companies out, and we want it back.”
Trump’s remarks come just over a week after the United States seized an oil tanker near Venezuela, marking another step in an increasingly confrontational relationship between the Trump administration and Maduro’s government. The seizure followed a series of aggressive moves by the administration aimed at choking off revenue streams that support the Venezuelan regime.
Earlier this week, Trump formally designated Maduro’s government as a foreign terrorist organization and ordered a blockade of all sanctioned oil tankers entering or leaving Venezuela. In a post on Truth Social, Trump said Venezuela is now facing overwhelming U.S. military pressure.
“Venezuela is completely surrounded by the largest Armada ever assembled in the History of South America,” Trump wrote. “It will only get bigger, and the shock to them will be like nothing they have ever seen before.”
The president made clear that the pressure campaign will not ease until Venezuela returns what he describes as stolen American assets. “Until such time as they return to the United States of America all of the Oil, Land, and other Assets that they previously stole from us,” Trump added.
Venezuela’s petroleum industry was largely controlled by U.S. oil companies before the country’s leaders began nationalizing the sector in the 1970s. Trump has repeatedly argued that those actions amounted to theft and that American interests were pushed out while Washington looked the other way.
As the administration ramps up pressure, some lawmakers have raised concerns that the standoff could spiral into broader conflict or even war in the region. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has also come under scrutiny for authorizing recent strikes on alleged drug-smuggling boats operating in nearby waters.
Those concerns were tested on Capitol Hill Wednesday, when the House considered two Democratic-led resolutions aimed at curbing the administration’s actions. One sought to limit the boat strikes, while the other attempted to rein in what Democrats described as U.S. “hostilities within or against Venezuela.” Both measures were rejected by the House, signaling continued congressional support for Trump’s hardline approach.
The administration has framed its actions as necessary to confront narcotics trafficking, terrorism, and what it describes as years of unchecked theft by the Maduro regime. Trump’s latest comments underscore his view that Venezuela’s oil dispute is not merely a diplomatic disagreement but a matter of reclaiming American property and restoring U.S. leverage in the Western Hemisphere.
With military pressure mounting and political rhetoric intensifying, the standoff between Washington and Caracas shows no signs of easing, as Trump continues to press for accountability and restitution from the Maduro government.
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