Trump’s oil deal could reshape the American economy
A deal giving the United States majority control of Venezuela’s proven oil reserves could lower costs, strengthen national power and return American energy policy to abundance.
President Trump announced Friday that the United States has reached an agreement giving it majority control of more than 65 billion barrels of proven Venezuelan oil reserves. Developed with Venezuela’s interim government and private industry, the deal would more than double American oil reserves without requiring taxpayer funding.
If it succeeds, the benefits could reach nearly every American household. A larger and more secure oil supply would place downward pressure on gasoline, transportation and manufacturing costs. Energy abundance means lower costs at the pump, at the grocery store and across the American economy.
For years, Washington treated affordable energy as something Americans should learn to live without. Working families paid more to drive to work, heat their homes and buy groceries while political and corporate elites pursued an energy transition insulated from ordinary economic realities.
Trump is pursuing a different course: use American power to secure plentiful energy, strengthen our position in the Western Hemisphere and reduce dependence on hostile or unstable regimes elsewhere.
The final terms remain to be seen, along with how quickly Venezuela’s damaged oil industry can translate vast reserves into greater supply.
The predictions of immediate $2 gasoline and an economic boom are premature. But the larger shift is already apparent. American energy policy is once again being organized around abundance, national strength and the prosperity of working Americans.