Why can Donald Trump decide that the US will handle the marketing of Venezuelan oil?

This week, President Donald Trump announced an oil agreement between the United States and Venezuela. He said the Venezuelan government will deliver between 30 and 50 million barrels of “high‑quality, licensed oil” to the United States, which will sell it and manage the profits.

“This oil will be sold at market price, and I, as President of the United States, will control those funds to ensure they are used for the benefit of both the Venezuelan people and the United States,” the president wrote on Truth Social. “I have instructed Energy Secretary Chris Wright to implement this plan immediately. It will be transported on storage vessels directly to unloading docks in the United States.” Sales of this volume could total more than $2 billion.

After the announcement, several Democratic figures questioned whether President Trump has the authority to control such revenues. “The president cannot appropriate Venezuelan oil for his own slush fund. Period,” Senator Chris Van Hollen, a member of the Appropriations Committee, said on Wednesday.

Under the Appropriations Clause of the US Constitution, the president cannot accumulate funds without congressional approval and then distribute them as he wishes. However, the Trump administration has indicated that the money from the sale of Venezuelan oil would not be deposited into the US Treasury.

“That money will be managed in a way that we control its distribution to benefit the Venezuelan people, not corruption or the regime,” said Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Meanwhile, Energy Secretary Chris Wright said that after the crude oil is sold, the funds will be distributed to Venezuela’s interim authorities.

Trump administration officials have defended the president’s actions, saying they protect national interests, including energy security. At the same time, the new oil agreement allows Venezuela to resume oil exports to the United States at market price after years of sanctions.

The US government will not only sell Venezuela’s stored oil. Wright also said that the United States will control Venezuela’s oil sales “indefinitely,” but clarified that it will not take away Venezuela’s oil, as the proceeds from the sales will be returned to Venezuela.

“We need to have that influence and that control over oil sales to drive the changes that simply must happen in Venezuela,” Wright said at Goldman Sachs’ annual energy conference in Miami last Wednesday.

Trump also announced that Venezuela will purchase exclusively American products with the money from the previously announced oil deal. The list of items Venezuela will import includes American agricultural products, medicines, medical devices, and US‑made equipment to “improve Venezuela’s electrical grid and energy facilities.”

“In other words, Venezuela is committing to doing business with the United States as its main partner — a wise and very beneficial decision for the Venezuelan people and for the United States,” President Trump wrote on Truth Social.

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