Trump’s Venezuela Move Exposes China’s Overreach and U.S. Must Assert Sovereignty

President Donald Trump has openly declared control over Venezuelan oil resources, signaling a bold step against Beijing's deep entanglement in Latin America. But China’s long-standing financial claims over Caracas’ oil reserves complicate this assertion, setting up a high-stakes confrontation over influence and economic leverage in America's own backyard. Why Should Americans Care About Venezuela's Oil Debt to China? China is owed upwards of $10 billion by Venezuela under opaque loans-for-oil deals struck during Nicolás Maduro's regime. These arrangements granted Chinese state-owned enterprises rights to billions of barrels of Venezuelan oil—making China the largest foreign stakeholder in the country's reserves. Yet...