US President Donald Trump has said that oil from a recently struck deal with Venezuela would be used to replenish the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, which has been drawn down sharply in recent years in response to global supply disruptions and high fuel prices and that Canadian businesses are rapidly relocating to the US.
Trump said in a social media post on Sunday that the “topping up" process would begin shortly, describing the Venezuelan oil as a "gift from Venezuela to the people of the United States".
It remains unclear how quickly the deal could supply oil to the reserve or provide any near-term benefit to US motorists.
The agreement, announced by Trump on Friday, aims to revive Venezuela’s battered oil industry. However, significant investment and infrastructure work will be needed before production can rise substantially.
The reserve held about 290 million barrels as of August 21, near a 44-year low, after the US drew down its stockpile under both the Biden and Trump administrations in response to global supply disruptions, including the Russia-Ukraine war and the war with Iran.
On Canada
Trump also stated that Canadian businesses are rapidly relocating to the US as trade hostilities between the two neighbouring nations intensify.
“Canadian businesses are pouring into the United States. We want to make our own cars, etc. That’s what’s going to happen,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
He asserted that Canada has been “ripping us off for years” and vowed that the current economic relationship would be fundamentally altered.
It remains unknown exactly which Canadian firms have initiated relocation plans or how much capital is moving across the border.
The US president’s remarks follow the imposition of 50 percent US tariffs on $20 billion worth of Canadian goods on August 22 and his recent directive to impose a 50 percent tariff on all Canadian cars, trucks, and steel starting Jan. 1, 2027.
Trump maintains that these measures are necessary to address a trade deficit exceeding $60 billion. He has repeatedly urged manufacturers to move their operations to American soil to secure "zero tariffs".
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has rejected the US approach, labelling the new levies a "miscalculation" and an attempt to "hurt and divide" Canada. Carney recently stated that the country is "at war" over trade and announced that Ottawa will implement reciprocal tariffs on $20 billion worth of US imports beginning September 8.
