Trump to host oil executives as US pushes Venezuela to cut ties with rival powers

WASHINGTON, DC: The Trump administration has delivered a blunt, high-stakes ultimatum to Venezuela’s interim leadership, laying out non-negotiable terms that must be met before the country is allowed to restart oil production.

According to a CNN report published on Wednesday, January 7, two senior White House officials said that the message to interim president Delcy Rodríguez was simple and unforgiving: Cut all political and economic ties with China, Iran, Russia, and Cuba, or remain economically constrained.

The demands, conveyed through conversations led by Marco Rubio, mark a seemingly dramatic escalation following the weekend capture of Nicolás Maduro.

Administration officials believe that Venezuela’s economy can survive only “a few more weeks” without access to oil markets, giving Washington what one source described as “total leverage.”

Exclusive US partnership demand

At the center of the proposal is an unprecedented demand: Venezuela must agree to work exclusively with the United States and US oil companies for all future oil production and sales.

Any continued cooperation with Beijing, Moscow, Tehran, or Havana would immediately void the deal.

Officials described the framework as a strategic choke point rather than a long-term development plan.

“The administration understands broader reforms take time,” one source said, “but the immediate priority is stopping Venezuela’s oil from flowing to America’s adversaries.”

If Rodríguez agrees to the terms, a senior White House official confirmed that the administration would consider easing, or restructuring, the sanctions regime that has crippled Venezuela’s economy.

Expelling foreign adversaries top priority

While US lawmakers have been told that democratic reforms - including elections, political prisoner releases, and dismantling illegal substance transportation networks - remain part of the long-term vision, officials were clear that geopolitics comes first.

Sources familiar with briefings to Congress said Rubio stressed that expelling foreign adversaries is the administration’s top demand. President Donald Trump has privately told allies he wants Iran, Russia, and China “completely out of the Western Hemisphere.”

“Venezuela is the pressure point,” one official said. “If Caracas breaks, the rest of the region gets the message.”

The administration believes the ongoing military buildup off Venezuela’s coast leaves Rodríguez with “no realistic option” other than compliance.

Presidential control of oil revenues

The ultimatum follows a striking statement from Trump on Tuesday, in which he claimed that Venezuela’s interim government would soon hand over “between 30 and 50 MILLION barrels of high-quality, sanctioned oil” to the United States.

Trump added a controversial condition that stunned even some allies. “This Oil will be sold at its Market Price, and that money will be controlled by me, as president of the United States of America,” he wrote.

White House summit with oil executives

To operationalize the plan, Trump is scheduled to host top oil executives at the White House on Friday.

Expected attendees include representatives from Chevron - currently the only US firm with operations in Venezuela - alongside Exxon Mobil and ConocoPhillips.

Officials say that the meeting will focus on rebuilding Venezuela’s decayed oil infrastructure under American oversight.

The task will be costly and complex - but in the Trump administration’s view, necessary to secure energy dominance and permanently sever Caracas from rival powers.

As one senior official put it bluntly, “Venezuela’s oil future now runs through Washington.”