Trump places Venezuelan oil importers in tariff crosshairs | USAEMALL.com

Welcome back to White House Watch. In today’s newsletter we’re covering:

• Trump’s latest tariff announcement

• The future of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty

• ‘Anxiety is real’ across major US law firms

Businesses and investors hoping for clarity on Donald Trump’s tariff plans are waiting on tenterhooks for the US president’s “liberation day” next week, when his administration is set to unveil its new tariff regime.

He is considering a two-step approach, deploying rarely used powers to impose emergency duties while investigations into trading partners are completed. The strategy aims to ground the president’s “reciprocal” tariffs in a stronger legal framework, people familiar with the matter say.

But Trump yesterday introduced another variable when he announced that the US would impose a 25 per cent levy on all imports from any country that buys oil from Venezuela.

Trump said that the new 25 per cent tariff, to be applied on April 2, will come on top of existing levies. So for China, one of the top importers of Venezuelan oil, that amounts to a 45 per cent tariff.

The US itself imported about 230,000 b/d from Venezuela in 2024, making the South American nation its fourth-biggest supplier last year. And Trump’s escalation comes just days after Caracas made a concession to the US president, agreeing to receive planeloads of deported migrants from the US.

The move risks an increase in oil prices, which, as Matt Smith, lead oil analyst at Kpler, told the Financial Times, “is the opposite of President Trump’s goals”. Brent crude rose 1.3 per cent following the announcement, although stocks held their gains.

Analysts said countries were likely to cut imports rather than risk the tariffs.

“Absent clarification from the administration on potential exemptions, I suspect most countries will self-sanction to avoid across-the-board tariffs on all exports to the US,” said Fernando Ferreira, director of geopolitical risk at consultancy Rapidan Energy Group. 

You can follow the latest on tariffs and executive orders with our Trump tracker here.

The latest headlines

What we’re hearing

America’s most powerful law firms are racing to protect their businesses from Trump’s wrath, after the head of the powerful law firm Paul Weiss struck a deal to end a dispute with the president last week.

Firms are racing to reassure clients that the target that the White House has seemingly put on their backs won’t impair their ability to represent them effectively.

Firms of all sizes are “scared to death” of being next in line, said one senior lawyer who had spoken to several firm leaders. [Free to read]

“Everybody has to engage an outside counsel for that and everybody has to come up with a PR statement on it,” a top Wall Street lawyer told the FT. “It’s an anxiety that’s real.”

Following Trump’s executive orders targeting law firms Paul Weiss and Perkins Coie, as well as a more limited directive against Covington & Burling, there is growing fear in the industry that more actions could follow. From the White House yesterday, Trump said that law firms “have to behave themselves”.

The worry is palpable. The FT contacted more than 30 corporate lawyers and those close to the legal community, but only about a dozen agreed to speak anonymously due to concerns about retaliation. And it’s not clear who, if anyone, is willing to stand up to Trump. Speaking about Brad Karp, chair of Paul Weiss, one person said:

“When Brad first got the executive order there was this movement to sign a petition or sign an amicus brief and have everybody show up and then everybody started asking ‘who else is signing’ and nobody was willing to step up so Brad went on his own and cut a deal.”

No more than a “handful” of firms were ultimately willing to put their names to a joint brief, another person familiar with the efforts said.

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