Venezuela and U.S. Foreign Policy

The Axios scoop reports that on Friday the U.S. Treasury Department, through its Office of Foreign Assets Control, quietly expanded authorizations for U.S. businesses and farmers to buy Venezuelan oil and petrochemical products, including fertilizer, in an effort to offset Iran war–driven spikes in energy and input costs. The new licenses allow U.S. entities to import Venezuelan oil and fertilizer, provide goods, services and technology to support Venezuela’s electricity and petrochemical sectors, and negotiate new contracts to develop Venezuelan oil and gas fields or modernize its electric grid to boost output. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is pitching the move as a way to increase supply and limit inflation and food-cost pressures as tanker bottlenecks in the Persian Gulf tighten global oil and fertilizer markets. The step is part of a broader post–Jan. 3 strategy to reintegrate the U.S. and Venezuelan economies after Washington ousted Nicolás Maduro, which has already included a large U.S.–Venezuela gold deal, and it underscores how the Iran war is forcing the administration to recalibrate sanctions to stabilize domestic prices. Critics online are already questioning whether easing pressure on Caracas to cushion war costs undercuts years of U.S. human-rights and anti-corruption rhetoric on Venezuela, while farm groups are likely to welcome any relief on fertilizer supplies heading into planting season.