US oil execs urge Trump to bargain with Venezuela over illegal immigration

Members of the US oil industry and investors are reportedly advising President-elect Donald Trump to reduce tensions between the US and Venezuela and to reduce the pressure on the country’s president, Nicolás Maduro. Trump should bargain with Maduro: the US will buy more Venezuelan oil if Venezuela sends fewer migrants in America’s direction, including those affiliated with the Tren de Aragua, The Wall Street Journal reported.

While high finance urges restraint, Maduro is continuing to run Venezuela like a dictator and threatening to imprison more of his political opposition. The July election that Maduro says he won is still under dispute.

The talk of detente comes at a time of high tensions between the two countries. The Biden-Harris administration confiscated Maduro’s aircraft in September and a report that Venezuela is sending released prisoners across the US border to “neutralize” Venezuelan officials who have sought refuge in America has been of great concern to US Customs and Border Protection.

The WSJ cites Harry Sargeant III as one of the tycoons who want Trump to negotiate. He’s a billionaire and mega-donor to the Republican Party. He is a frequent guest at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago golf course with close links to Venezuela. It’s people like him who say there’s more to be gained from bargaining with Maduro than trying to force a regime change.

The WSJ notes how some Venezuelan asphalt was shipped to Port of Palm Beach last week. The company responsible for the shipment was Global Oil Terminals, which is connected to Sargeant. The last time that Venezuelan asphalt arrived at the port was before the first Trump presidency slapped oil sanctions on Venezuela in 2019.

The delivery happened due to a Treasury Department license that the Biden-Harris administration offered to some oil companies wanting to reestablish a relationship with Venezuela. So if Biden has been quietly walking back his Maduro policy, why shouldn’t Trump temper his stance, the oil execs are arguing. The result could be better immigration cooperation in return for more Venezuelan oil that could reduce the cost of fuel in the US.

Besides, the Mar-a-Lago lobbyists argue that China and Russia are already knee-deep in Venezuela because the US has had a hands-off policy that has left the door open. So they argue it makes no economic or political sense to continue to demand Venezuela transform into a proper Western democracy.

“It is indisputable that the renewed flow of high-quality, low cost Venezuelan asphalt to the U.S. has been a benefit to the American taxpayer,” Harry Sargeant IV, Global Oil Terminals president and the founder’s son, told The WSJ. “It has been a blow to our strategic competitors because under sanctions, these barrels were turned into heavily discounted fuel oil that simply subsidized the Chinese economy,” he said.

Maduro seemed optimistic about getting back into the good graces of the United States. “In his first government, things didn’t go well for us with President-elect Donald Trump,” he said in a recent speech. “This is a new start, so let’s bet on a win-win.”