US President Donald Trump’s decisions with respect to Venezuela have stirred a global debate about the long-term consequences of his actions. Speaking to India Today, geopolitical expert Ian Bremmer drew a comparison between PM Modi and Trump, saying that the former is popular while the latter is not.
Bremmer expressed scepticism over the long-term impact of the decisions taken by Trump with respect to Venezuela. He said that Trump’s decisions might not last, as he will leave office in 2029.
“Well, the next president can rip up a lot of what Trump does. This isn’t Xi Jinping. It’s not even Modi, who has now run the country for over 10 years in India and enjoys strong popularity in a democracy. This is Trump, who’s quite unpopular, 80 years old, and will be out in three years,” Bremmer said.
Bremmer added that whether the US would be able to reap long-term benefits from Venezuela’s oil would be governed by factors including global oil prices, political stability in Venezuela, and US leadership after Trump. “And oil, you know that the Venezuelans are only producing about 800,000 barrels a day right now. That used to be 3 million barrels. But to increase that, you need political stability,” Bremmer explained. “And you need an economic environment that oil companies are going to believe in. You need a belief that those oil barrels will be profitable and energy prices are pretty low right now,” he pointed out.
The geopolitical expert said that the oil companies have a longer investment cycle than the tenure of the US presidents, which is four years. Bremmer dismissed the claims that the US companies would take all the Venezuelan oil and termed them “exaggerated.” “You also need a belief that the political system that Trump is supporting will continue to exist when Trump is no longer president in 2029,” he said. “And so I think that the projections that the Americans are gonna take the oil are exaggerated. I think that I wouldn’t go too far with that. I wouldn’t run to the bank with promises of that oil,” he further stated.
After capturing the Venezuelan President and his wife in a military action, US President Donald announced on Tuesday (6th January) that the US has negotiated a deal with Venezuela to export as much as two billion dollars of crude oil.
