President Donald Trump has announced that, starting 2 April, the United States will impose a 25% tariff on any country that purchases oil or gas from Venezuela. Trump calls the move a “secondary tariff”.
The 25% tariff will apply to all trade with countries that buy Venezuelan oil or gas, not just the oil transactions themselves.
Tren de Aragua and deportations
In a post on his social media platform Truth Social, Trump accused Venezuela of being “very hostile to the United States and the freedoms which we espouse”, and claimed, without evidence, that the country had “purposefully and deceitfully” sent thousands of violent criminals into the US. He singled out the Tren de Aragua gang, which the US government officially designated a foreign terrorist organisation last month.
Trump used the gang as justification for invoking the 1798 Alien Enemies Act, a rarely used wartime measure, to deport over 250 Venezuelan nationals to El Salvador last week. A federal judge attempted to block the deportations, but the administration carried them out anyway, sparking warnings of a constitutional crisis. Trump has since called for the judge’s impeachment.
Critics have warned that the administration’s claims about Venezuelan migrants lack supporting evidence. Some families of deported individuals say their relatives have no known gang ties, and legal experts have raised concerns about the use of emergency powers in peacetime.
A trade policy with little precedent
This kind of “secondary tariff” is highly unusual. Rather than targeting goods directly imported from Venezuela, the measure penalises third-party countries, borrowing a model more commonly seen in financial sanctions. The approach blurs the line between tariffs and sanctions, using trade barriers as a geopolitical tool rather than a means of protecting domestic industries. While the US has imposed secondary sanctions on nations dealing with Iran or Russia, those actions involved financial restrictions, not across-the-board tariffs on unrelated imports.
Potential clash with global trade rules
The move could face challenges at the World Trade Organization. When a country joins the WTO, it agrees to maximum tariff levels—called “bound tariffs”—which act as ceiling limits. A country can apply lower tariffs, but going above those limits without negotiation or a valid exception violates WTO rules.
In addition, under the Most-Favoured-Nation principle, countries must treat all trading partners equally unless a formal exemption applies, like a free trade agreement. For example, if a country charges 10% on bananas from Brazil, it must charge the same on bananas from India or Vietnam. By proposing a 25% tariff on all imports from countries that buy Venezuelan oil, Trump is introducing discrimination based on foreign policy behaviour, not trade terms—something WTO rules are meant to prevent.
That said, the US has imposed similar discriminatory tariffs in recent years, and while some have been challenged at the WTO, enforcement has proven difficult. The US often cites national security to justify these moves, a controversial defence that WTO panels have been reluctant to overrule.
China most exposed to new tariff risk
Venezuela’s top oil customers in 2024 included:
- China – 351,000 barrels per day
- United States – 228,000 barrels per day
- India – approximately 61,000 barrels per day
- Spain – just under 60,000 barrels per day
Venezuela produced 921,000 barrels per day in total, according to Lipow Oil Associates, with China accounting for 38% of exports.
“This announcement by the Trump administration appears to be one more action targeting China,” said Matt Smith, lead oil analyst at Kpler. Trump has already imposed 20% tariffs on Chinese goods, with steel and aluminium facing an additional 25%. If the new 25% penalty is added, total tariffs on some Chinese goods could reach 45% to 70%.
Oil markets react as Chevron gets reprieve
Markets have reacted cautiously. WTI crude has risen 1.36% to US$69.21 a barrel. Brent crude has risen 1.3% to US$73.10.
Trump’s policy comes amid a broader effort to pressure the government of Nicolás Maduro. The Treasury Department had previously ordered Chevron, which operates several oil projects in Venezuela, to halt its operations by 3 April. However, following meetings between Trump and Chevron CEO Mike Wirth last week, the licence was quietly extended to 27 May.
Trump’s February decision to revoke the Chevron licence was partly linked to Venezuela’s refusal to accept deportees from the US. But with Venezuela now resuming repatriation flights—receiving 200 deportees on Monday—the administration appears to have temporarily eased its stance.
“Liberation Day” and new tariffs on multiple countries
Trump refers to the date the tariffs begin—2 April—as “LIBERATION DAY IN AMERICA,” a day on which other reciprocal tariffs are also expected to take effect. These include levies on imports from China, India, Mexico, South Korea, and the EU.
