Donald Trump’s arrival to the presidency of the United States suggests the possibility that his government team, with Marco Rubio as Secretary of State, will once again launch the “maximum pressure” strategy against Venezuela and its economy. This policy is yet to be defined.
On some occasions, Trump questioned the Biden administration’s relaxation of some pressure measures against Venezuela, due to the US dependence on crude oil. He also added that in 2020, when he left the White House, Venezuela “was about to collapse, we would have taken it over. We would have taken all its oil, which we have right next door.”
The now president-elect questioned in June 2023 that the Biden government “bought Venezuela’s oil,” as according to him, “it makes a dictator very rich.”
During his campaign, Trump refrained from making any comment on his approach towards the Venezuelan government or whether there would be any policy change on his return to the White House. He has not referred to any concrete actions regarding Venezuela following his election.
However, it is worth considering possible scenarios under the relaunch of “maximum pressure,” and how the Venezuelan economy could react to [asimilar] those measures.