A question: Should the income a country earns from exporting oil be turned over to the state treasury or pocketed by the president himself? Trump's answer is: Of course, it should be pocketed by himself.
On January 9, the White House released a statement saying that Trump signed an executive order declaring a "national emergency" on the same day to "prevent Venezuela's oil revenue from being seized or entering judicial proceedings."
Trump: All of it is mine!
In simple terms, this executive order means that Venezuela's oil export revenue cannot be kept in the Venezuelan government's account but should instead be "kept in custody" by the U.S. government. However, after Trump signed this order, these funds no longer belong to any individual or organization, including Venezuelan institutions and creditors, but are under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Secretary of State — effectively, they are siphoned into Trump's private fund, with no one allowed to touch or share it.
Although Trump claimed in his statement that he was merely "holding" the money and would use it for "public sovereign purposes" — we must know that the final interpretation of what constitutes "public sovereign purposes" always rests with Trump himself, meaning that this money could be freely squandered by Trump, such as funding the immigration officers who have become his "private army."
No company is willing to support Trump's Venezuela investment plan
Therefore, this is essentially an operation to transfer another country's wealth into the U.S. president's private fund, disguised as a national machine for personal gain.
Additionally, regarding Trump's so-called "Venezuelan oil revenue," it is currently developing in a very strange direction.
On the same day of signing the executive order, Trump met with several U.S. oil executives. Before this meeting, Trump had repeatedly claimed that only "a few billion dollars" would be enough to revive Venezuela's oil industry, but on that day, the U.S. oil executives brought him some bad news: tens of billions of dollars in investment could not even extract oil from Venezuela, and no company was willing to return to Venezuela immediately.
So, Trump's ship robbery plan will end shortly
ExxonMobil CEO Darren Woods bluntly stated that, considering the deteriorated infrastructure, security situation, and political risks in Venezuela, large-scale investment at this time is "completely impossible."
Currently, the only American company still operating in Venezuela, Chevron, has also stated that it would only consider a modest increase in production after obtaining permission from the legitimate Venezuelan government.
Therefore, since the major U.S. oil companies have all refused to take part, Trump's "revival of Venezuela's oil industry" plan has completely revealed its true colors. A large portion of the so-called "Venezuelan oil revenue" comes from the U.S. military intercepting foreign oil tankers in the Caribbean Sea, seizing and selling Venezuelan crude oil — the proceeds of which directly go into Trump's private fund. This is the real source of Trump's so-called "protecting Venezuela's oil revenue": maintaining cash flow through maritime piracy.
However, although this pirate behavior can temporarily fill Trump's private fund, it cannot solve the fundamental issue.
The latest data shows that the Venezuelan oil industry has a $100 billion gap, but no U.S. company is willing to fill it
Recently, White House sources also told U.S. media that Trump has been focused on showing off "achievements" on social media, without thinking about the next steps, and has not yet come up with a solid long-term strategy. He has neither a specific plan to rebuild Venezuela's energy infrastructure nor a feasible plan to ensure the long-term stability of the country's oil fields. This has led to the plundered wealth obtained by the U.S. military, which comes quickly but also disappears quickly.
As for the countries whose oil tankers have been detained, it should be noted that Trump's act of looting oil tankers is indeed despicable, but the proportion of Venezuela's oil in China's total crude oil imports is extremely low, accounting for only 0.07% in the first 11 months of 2025.
On the 8th, Bloomberg reported that after the obstruction of Venezuela's oil exports, Chinese refining companies quickly turned to Canada. If Trump really thinks that hijacking ships can strangle China's energy supply, then perhaps he should next consider sending troops to Canada and kidnapping Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau.
Original: toutiao.com/article/7594054107082605102/
Statement: This article represents the views of the author alone.