President Nicolás Maduro of Venezuela has reportedly offered the Trump administration access to Venezuela’s oil and other natural resource exports in an effort to slow down the recent U.S. airstrikes in the Caribbean, during negotiations that have lasted for months. Washington has deployed these extreme measures to suppress drug trafficking activity south of the border, including patrolling and striking Caribbean waters for suspected drug smuggling. Illegal groups have used surface and underwater vessels to traffic drugs from Caracas to Mexico or directly to the United States. The display of autonomous force in these efforts has been a hallmark of President Donald Trump’s public image, likely used as a scare tactic aimed at the Maduro administration.
Now, the status quo has shifted. The United States continues to display its use of force as a significant point of leverage, especially now that Maduro has come to the negotiation table. Since it’s likely that the strikes can continue indefinitely, Maduro likely does not want to appear weak on the world stage. Venezuela’s leverage lies in its vast abundance of natural resources, which may be a major factor in the Trump administration’s relationship with the South American country, given Washington’s current stance on rare earth minerals.
President Trump has made it clear that natural resources must be on the table in most of his negotiations, indicating the significance of Maduro’s raw material control. The Greenland proposal, his attempts to broker a peace deal in the Russia-Ukraine conflict, and new legislation to expand mining operations in the Pacific all suggest that the administration aims to reestablish a form of peripheral hegemony in the global resource space.
The emphasis on natural resources stems from the limitations that will arise in this area of development in the coming decades. Oil and rare earth materials are finite, and control over those trade routes will become a primary source of hegemonic power worldwide—a fact Beijing has exploited for decades. Currently, China controls 70 percent of rare earth exports and 90 percent of refining capacity, figures the Trump administration seeks to reduce through tariffs and deal-making strategies.
If Washington can strike a deal with Caracas that reduces the hard-power pressure seen in recent months, it could drive a wedge into the wall Beijing has built to dominate the rare earth mineral space. This development comes amid the U.S.’s decline from its unipolarity post Cold War, and new challengers have emerged to fill the void of waning American hegemony. This remains a developing theory, but it aligns with the broader narrative of the global natural resource game. Opportunity for Washington lies in crafting deals to control supply chains, trade routes, and resource exports, integrating the U.S. into the economic activities of as many nations and commodities as possible.