After setting April 2 as the day when tariffs will go into effect on most global goods, the White House appears to be returning its plans. The collection of products such as wood, automobiles, semiconductors, and other materials will not be established until an unspecified later. Report Wall Street Journal. Other unspecified countries could be exempt entirely, President Donald Trump told reporters Monday.
For now, at least, Venezuela is the one that won’t exempt from the Trump trade war. On Monday, the president signed Presidential Order Retaliation tariffs are imposed on Venezuela due to the support of the Tren de Aragua gang and alleged betting. Starting April 2nd, goods imported into the United States from countries that directly or indirectly import Venezuela’s oil may be subject to 25% tariffs. The order allows the Secretary of State to impose collections. The tax will expire one year after his discretion “after the last day the country imported Venezuelan oil.”
Venezuela is the world The 20th largest producer of crude oil It plays an important role in providing petroleum products to several countries, including Spain, India and Russia. The US also relies on Venezuela’s oil imports, and on average 232,000 barrels crude and petroleum products per day from the country in 2024 (which is about 3% of daily crude imports into the US).
These tariffs could affect energy supply in some countries, but Muyu Xu, senior crude oil analyst at Singapore’s analytics firm Kpler, said say Bloomberg She believes that “Trump’s order is primarily aimed at Venezuela. It cuts off economic ties with the global market, and puts pressure on them to come to the table negotiating with the US.”
The move is also a target attack against China, the leading buyer of Venezuelan crude oil.
China officially halted crude imports from the country after the US imposed sanctions on Venezuela’s state-owned oil companies in 2019. “Unofficially, the world’s top crude oil importers have not stopped buying. Venezuelan oil is often masked as a bitumen mix, according to traders and third-party data providers.” Report Bloomberg.
If imposed, collection would not have a major impact on China’s oil sector. The country will acquire most of the crudeness from Russia, Saudi Arabia and Iraq, but could hit Chinese refineries. Stressing Because of high costs and slow economic growth.
Since Trump took office in January, the US and China have targeted each other’s energy sectors. In February, China implemented a 15% import fee on US liquefied natural gas. Last week, the US Issued sanctions China’s teapot refineries (small, privately owned and operated outside the US financial system) were under US sanctions to receive $500 million worth of Iranian oil. This was the first time the US has approved a teapot refinery in China. According to To Energy Intelligence, an energy information company. Separately, the US last week approved China’s crude oil terminals to transport Iranian crude oil.
These sanctions are unlikely to halt the transfer of approved Iranian crude oil to China. Energy companies can implement workarounds such as “ship-to-ship relocation in waters off the Malaysian Peninsula.” Bloomberg I’ll point it out.
Similarly, these tariffs probably won’t halt Venezuela’s oil exports. The country can easily avoid Venezuela-related tariffs by changing data and lying about procurement (China has been going for many years). Unless the Trump administration is ready to thoroughly enforce these duties, the latest tariffs look like many previous measures Promised but not established.
