Venezuela increases oil exports to China as US secondary tariff tightens

By Lucia Kassai

  Venezuela is boosting oil exports to China to the highest in almost two years as the Trump administration deploys sanctions and secondary tariffs to squeeze the Latin American nation. 

Shipments are set to rise to 400,000 barrels a day this month, the highest since June 2023, according to preliminary data from shipping reports and vessel movements tracked by Bloomberg. China, the world’s biggest oil importer, has historically been a top purchaser of deeply discounted barrels from sanctioned nations, including Venezuela, Iran and Russia.  

Venezuela’s oil industry is facing its biggest threat since the first Trump administration essentially banned US imports of oil from the country in 2019.  Trump is now squeezing Venezuela on two fronts: He’s promising 25% tariffs on US imports of all goods from countries that buy Venezuelan oil, and he has also pulled Chevron Corp.’s license to drill and sell the nation’s crude, giving the oil major until May 27 to leave the country.  

 

China has maintained purchases of Venezuelan oil ever since the US imposed sweeping sanctions against the country six years ago.  Petroleos de Venezuela keeps the crude flowing using little-known companies as intermediaries, which in turn avoid detection with methods including fake documents, so-called ghost ships and by “spoofing” vessels’ satellite navigation systems to conceal their true locations.  In March alone, at least 10 untraceable ghost ships are being deployed to ship oil to Asia and Cuba. 

The US is blaming the government of Nicolas Maduro for allowing criminal activity to thrive in the country, exacerbating illegal immigration to the US.