Venezuela live updates as senators seek to block further military action, Trump plans post-Maduro oil strategy

President Trump said on Truth Social Wednesday that Venezuela will use the money that it draws from a recent oil sale deal with the U.S. on “ONLY American Made Products.”

Those purchases could include agricultural products, medicines, medical devices and equipment needed to fix the country’s beleaguered electrical grid, Mr. Trump wrote.

“In other words, Venezuela is committing to doing business with the United States of America as their principal partner – A wise choice, and a very good thing for the people of Venezuela, and the United States,” the president continued.

Since Maduro’s capture, Mr. Trump has focused on Venezuela’s oil industry, pressing U.S. companies to enter the country — a move he has suggested could help rebuild the oil-rich nation’s crumbling infrastructure.

Meanwhile, Secretary of State Marco Rubio has argued that oil could serve as a point of leverage over the remnants of the Maduro regime who continue to run Venezuela.

Earlier Wednesday, Rubio announced the U.S. will export between 30 million and 50 million barrels of oil from Venezuela, which will be sold at “market rates,” with revenue used “in a way that benefits the Venezuelan people.”

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters that Venezuela’s interim government had agreed to release the oil. She added that the proceeds will be put in U.S.-controlled bank accounts and be “dispersed for the benefit of the American people and the Venezuelan people at the discretion of the United States government.”

It’s not clear how much revenue will be drawn from the oil sales. Venezuelan crude oil, which is tough to refine and has historically faced tight U.S. sanctions, has been sold at a discount in the past, though some refineries on the U.S.’s Gulf Coast are set up to process the kind of heavy crude oil that typically flows from Venezuela, according to Reuters.