Trump turns Texas rally into spectacle around Venezuelan oil deal
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At a Corpus Christi rally, President Donald Trump touted a tanker of Venezuelan oil and floated the idea of Venezuela someday becoming a U.S. state, casting the agreement as a major energy win even as critics pointed to the unresolved democratic questions surrounding the country’s interim rule.
President Donald Trump used a campaign rally in Corpus Christi, Texas, to showcase a tanker he said was loaded with about one million barrels of Venezuelan oil. He said the United States had reached an oil agreement with Venezuela's interim government, which he described as covering "billions" of barrels.
"Venezuela will become a prosperous country, and who knows? Maybe some day soon it’ll become a prosperous 51st state. That’s possible," Trump told the audience.
He added that the oil would be supplied to the United States at no cost to American taxpayers and claimed the deal would help lower fuel prices that had risen after tensions with Iran.
The announcement follows a U.S. operation earlier in the year that resulted in the detention of former Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro and the installation of an interim administration backed by Washington. Critics have questioned the lack of progress toward democratic elections in Venezuela.
The oil agreement is presented as a response to higher gasoline prices linked to Iran's closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a key shipping route for global oil supplies.