Amid the thousands of domestic and international issues that trouble the United States daily, President Donald Trump found the need to take harsh action on one in particular: a supposed terrorist crisis in Venezuela that led to a complete naval blockade of the country. On Dec. 16, Trump ordered a blockade on all sanctioned oil tankers going in and out of Venezuela, hoping to put pressure on authoritarian Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.
Trump’s reasoning for the blockade included the accusation that many of the ships they were blocking were covert drug-smuggling boats. The Trump administration has ordered military strikes on many of these presumed fentanyl-carrying boats, killing over 100 people through more than 20 violent attacks since early September 2025.
Samuel Moncada, a Venezuelan representative in the United Nations, said that the U.S. was “pillaging, looting, and recolonis[ing] Venezuela,” and he further established that the U.S. stopping the oil trade was not connected to the spread of illegal drugs.
The U.S. Ambassador to the U.N., Michael Waltz, said that this tension stems from the U.S. not recognizing Maduro as the rightful leader and the Trump administration therefore enforcing that belief in the Caribbean until Maduro faces enough pressure to step down or negotiate with U.S. officials.
When asked about justification for blocking the oil trade, Waltz says that “Maduro’s ability to sell Venezuela’s oil enables his fraudulent claims to power and his narco-terrorist activities.”
Chevron, a major oil company that has oil wells in Venezuela, has decided to continue doing business in Venezuela regardless of Trump’s naval blockade. However, the oil business is going to face struggles if the blockade isn’t lifted soon. With less supply to fulfill the increasing demand for crude oil, prices are inevitably going to rise, and the economy will suffer as a result.
While this is mainly a conflict between the U.S. and Venezuela, many other countries have gotten involved. Most notably, China has condemned Trump’s actions and has defended Venezuela’s political and economic freedoms, including Maduro’s right to rule. China is the leading importer of oil from Venezuela, and the U.S. severing their economic relationship with the large oil-exporting country means that China has more opportunity to grow their diplomacy with Venezuela.
Whether the question is about financial prosperity or ethical values, the U.S should not continue with their blockade of Venezuelan naval trade. Commercially, the blockade will cause inflation in the prices of oil, which will damage the global economy. Politically, the blockade only intensifies the tensions between the U.S. and Venezuela, two powerful countries with harsh and opinionated leaders. Most importantly, the morals of Trump’s Venezuelan naval blockade are questionable at best. While the blockade itself has thus far not really physically harmed anyone, the military strikes that come with it have already caused numerous casualties and unbridled destruction. Trump’s plan has murdered more than 100 Venezuelans on loose claims of ties to drugs, which is unacceptable and must be halted for the sake of the global economy and the lives of millions of Venezuelans and Americans.