by Reuters
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump’s envoy Richard Grenell is expected to meet with Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Friday in Venezuela, CNN reported, citing a source familiar with the matter.
Reuters could not immediately verify the meeting.
Trump said last week his administration would likely stop buying oil from Venezuela and was looking “very strongly” at the South American country.
Grenell, Trump’s envoy for special missions, had earlier said he spoke with multiple officials in Venezuela and would begin meetings, days after the outgoing Biden administration imposed new sanctions on the government of Maduro.
“Diplomacy is back,” Grenell said in a post on X disclosing his initial calls. “Talking is a tactic.”
During his campaign, Trump called Maduro a dictator after he pursued a “maximum pressure” campaign against him during his first term from 2017 to 2021, including imposing harsh sanctions on the South American country and its oil industry.
Former President Joe Biden briefly rolled back some of the Trump-era restrictions following electoral promises from Maduro but then reinstated them, saying the Venezuelan leader had reneged on pledges for a fair democratic vote.
The Financial Times reported Friday that Chevron is trying to protect the special U.S. license allowing it to operate in Venezuela.
The oil giant’s chief executive, Mike Wirth, told the newspaper the company would engage with the White House after Marco Rubio, Trump’s secretary of state, said the license should be reconsidered.
If Chevron is forced out, China and Russia will gain influence in the OPEC nation, Wirth said.
Venezuela’s oil exports to the U.S. soared 64% to some 222,000 bpd last year, making it its second-largest export market behind China, which took 351,000 bpd, down 18% compared to the prior year.
(Reporting by Susan Heavey and Doina Chiacu; Editing by David Ljunggren and Alistair Bell)
