America needs a Venezuela deal that only President Trump can deliver

President Trump has proved time and again that strength and smart diplomacy can work hand in hand. Nowhere is that more needed today than in Venezuela, a country that sits just 1,300 miles from Miami, rich in oil, yet controlled by an illegitimate narco-socialist regime. For years, Venezuela has been both a humanitarian tragedy and a national security threat. Nicolás Maduro's regime has flooded American streets with narcotics, unleashed waves of illegal migrants across our southern border, and opened Venezuela’s doors to Communist China, Vladimir Putin’s Russia, and the mullahs in Tehran.

The result? American cities buckle under the weight of mass illegal migration, American families pay more at the pump, and Beijing gets stronger while our backyard becomes less secure.

Make no mistake: the Chinese Communist Party is watching Venezuela closely. They’ve spent years offering the Maduro regime lifelines via loans, military hardware, and surveillance technology in exchange for backdoor control over Venezuela’s oil and infrastructure. Their mission is simple: squeeze American companies out and use Venezuela as yet another lever of power against the United States in our own hemisphere. This situation cannot be ignored any longer. And only one leader has both the strength and the acumen to break this deadlock: President Donald J. Trump.

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President Trump’s America First leadership is built on one simple idea; American power must be used to advance American interests. When others talked, he acted and negotiated from a position of strength. President Trump’s bold foreign policy has brought home hostages, dismantled terror leaders and narco-trafficking networks, and confronted Communist China like no president before him.

Now, we need that same strength to chart a new course on Venezuela. Our goal should be a strategic deal that cuts off the supply of funds to Maduro’s ruthless regime while protecting American jobs and interests. The U.S. has a distinct advantage to leverage through its access to Venezuela’s vast oil reserves. Maintaining that access will lower energy costs here at home and prevent Communist China from seizing control of another critical energy source. President Trump has already laid out exactly how to do it. In a March Oval Office meeting with energy leaders, President Trump and Secretary Lutnick discussed the idea – later outlined in an executive order – of using secondary tariffs on countries importing Venezuelan oil as the primary means of restricting the flow of money to the regime without hurting American businesses and American jobs.

It's a brilliant gambit. China, not the United States, is the largest importer of oil from Venezuela. A policy of imposing secondary tariffs on importers of Venezuelan oil, while allowing U.S. companies to continue to operate, will do significantly more damage to Maduro and his regime, protect American jobs and inhibit China’s economic and geopolitical expansion.

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The president should adjust his Venezuela policy to allow American and allied companies to purchase Venezuela oil, which will support American businesses and American jobs. A policy of imposing secondary tariffs on China, Russia, and Iran for purchasing Venezuelan oil, while allowing U.S. and allied companies to continue to operate, will do significantly more damage to Maduro and his regime, while protecting American jobs and inhibiting China’s economic and geopolitical expansion in the process.

But it can’t stop at oil. As part of any deal, the Maduro regime must agree to take back its illegal aliens and begin real, enforceable reforms that limit the flow of drugs and human trafficking into the United States. President Trump’s special envoy, Ambassador Richard Grenell, has already laid the foundation for such a deal. President Trump understands the stakes. Under his leadership, the United States can force Maduro's hand, protect American jobs, drive down energy prices, push out the CCP, Iranian, and Russian influence, and force the regime to take responsibility for its citizens instead of dumping them on American soil.

This is the kind of leadership that only comes from putting America First. To be certain, this approach does not mean abandoning other American equities in the country, such as promoting the rule of law, democracy, and human rights. It does mean prioritizing US national security and economic well-being to provide space for other important endeavors. It’s time to make the deal, as only our President can.