U.S. President Donald Trump makes an announcement about the Navy’s “Golden Fleet” at Mar-a-lago in Palm Beach, Florida, U.S., December 22, 2025.
Jessica Koscielniak | Reuters
President Donald Trump on Monday said the U.S. will keep crude oil and tankers seized near Venezuela.
“We’re going to keep it,” Trump told reporters in Palm Beach, Florida after unveiling a new class of battleships named after himself.
“Maybe we’ll sell it, maybe we’ll keep it, maybe we’ll use it in the strategic reserve,” Trump said of the seized oil. “We’re keeping the ships also.”
Trump has ordered a blockade of sanctioned oil tankers entering or leaving Venezuela as he escalates pressure on President Nicolas Maduro.
The U.S. seized a large tanker on Dec. 10 that was carrying more than 1 million barrels of oil, according energy consulting firm Kpler. It intercepted a second vessel over the weekend. Trump confirmed Monday that the U.S. is pursuing a third tanker.
“It’s moving along. We’ll end up getting it,” Trump said of the tanker. “It came from the wrong location. It came out of Venezuela, and it was sanctioned.”
Trump said “it would be smart” for Maduro to step down when asked whether his ultimate goal is to oust the Venezuelan president.
Venezuela is a founding member of OPEC and has the largest proven oil reserves in the world. It is exporting about 749,000 barrels per day this year with more than half that oil going to China, according to data from Kpler.
The U.S. has staged a major military build up in the Caribbean. The Trump administration has launched deadly strikes on boats that it says were trafficking drugs to the U.S. The legality of those strikes is disupted and has been subject to scrutiny by Congress.
Trump threatened Monday to expand the strikes to land.
“We’ll be starting the same program on land,” he said. “If they want to come by land, they’re going to end up having a big problem. They’re going to get blown to pieces, because we don’t want our people poisoned.”
