The US President justified this measure by the fact that Venezuela, ruled by the left-wing nationalist President Nicolás Maduro, had “behaved very hostile to the United States and the freedom we are capable of”. He particularly accused Venezuela of having “intentionally and insidious” to have smuggled tens of thousands of criminals into the United States.
The United States has deported hundreds of Venezuelans to its home country since February. Most recently, a flight with 199 migrants deported from the United States on Monday had ended up in the South American country after the deportation fees had been interrupted due to disputes between the governments in Caracas and Washington. In mid -March, the United States also pushed more than 200 Venezuelans to belong to a drug gang for detention in the Central American El Salvador.
The punitive tariffs now announced by Trump against the recipient of Venezuelan oil and gas could particularly hit China and India, where Venezuela had relocated to some of his exports under the pressure of US sanctions.
The Trump government has recently increased the pressure on Venezuela by banning the US group Chevron’s oil production in the country with effect at the beginning of April.
For April 2, the Trump government is planning tariffs not only against Venezuela’s trading partner, but also against various other countries. This should be “reciprocal” tariffs – the imported product of a country should therefore be loaded with as high as they apply to the same US product in this country.
In contrast, flat -rate tariffs against entire foreign economic sectors, as Trump also promised for the beginning of April, may not come. A US government employee told the AFP news agency on Monday that the new tariffs hit entire industries, “may happen or do not happen”. The situation is currently “still in the river”.
