• President Donald Trump announced the cancellation of a Biden-era agreement allowing Chevron to drill and refine oil in Venezuela. He cited Venezuela’s resistance to accepting deportees from America.

• The cancellation of the Chevron oil lease could worsen Venezuela’s economic crisis and lead to more refugees leaving the country, according to experts.

• The announcement follows a meeting between Trump envoy Richard Grenell and Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro, during which six imprisoned Americans were returned to the U.S.

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President Donald Trump is pulling out of an agreement set by former President Joe Biden allowing oil company Chevron to drill and refine oil in Venezuela. Biden made the deal with the communist country in exchange for facilitating democratic elections.

Trump said he’s pulling the oil company’s license because of Venezuela’s resistance to accepting deportees from America. 

“We are hereby reversing the concessions that Crooked Joe Biden gave to Nicolás Maduro, of Venezuela, on the oil transaction agreement, dated November 26, 2022, and also having to do with Electoral conditions within Venezuela, which have not been met by the Maduro regime,” Trump said in a social media post on Wednesday. “Additionally, the regime has not been transporting the violent criminals that they sent into our Country (the Good Ole’ U.S.A.) back to Venezuela at the rapid pace that they had agreed to. I am therefore ordering that the ineffective and unmet Biden ‘Concession Agreement’ be terminated as of the March 1st option to renew.”

Venezuela faces sanctions that keep American businesses from operating there, and the 2022 oil lease was an exception. The country has the world’s largest proven oil reserves, with at least 300 billion barrels. 

Francisco Rodríguez, Rice Family Professor of Public and International Affairs at the University of Denver and author of “The Fall of Venezuela,” said the cancellation of the Chevron oil lease could result in more refugees leaving the country. 

“The evidence is clear: US sanctions deepened Venezuela’s economic contraction and drove millions to leave. Revoking oil licenses will worsen the crisis and force more to flee. More sanctions won’t bring political change; they will only bring more suffering to Venezuelan families,” he said in a social media post.

The announcement comes days after Trump envoy Richard Grenell met with Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro. He returned from Venezuela with six Americans the country had imprisoned. 

The Venezuelan figurehead won his recent election attempt but faced widespread accusations of election interference. Trump recognized Maduro’s opponent, Edmundo González, as the rightful winner of the July 2024 presidential election and referred to his supporters as “freedom fighters.”