Trump’s zero tolerance meets China’s Venezuela power grab amid sanctions

As president Donald Trump While warning of “zero tolerance” for drug states in America’s backyard, China is tightening its grip on Venezuela — a high-stakes economic and political bet that may soon clash with American power.

US defense officials confirmed to Reuters last month that a US aircraft carrier battle group had entered the Southern Command area, which covers the Caribbean and the northern coast of South America, to monitor drug trafficking routes linked to the Venezuelan military command.

The Pentagon said Access The aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. The Ford, which carries more than 4,000 Sailors and dozens of tactical aircraft, would “enhance the United States’ ability to detect, monitor, and disrupt illicit actors and activities.” She added that the mission aims to “weaken and dismantle transnational criminal organizations.”

China condemns the US military buildup off the coast of Venezuela as foreign interference in regional affairs

Chinese President Xi Jinping (right) waves next to Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro during a visit to a housing development project in Caracas on July 21, 2014. China will offer Venezuela a $4 billion line of credit under an agreement signed Monday, with the money to be repaid through oil shipments from OPEC member Venezuela. The agreement was signed during a 24-hour visit to Venezuela by Xi, who is on a tour of Latin America. (Carlos Garcia Rollins/Reuters)

Within weeks, Venezuelan officers were reportedly training for guerrilla-style defense against a potential US strike — an acknowledgment, according to Reuters, of “growing anxiety within Caracas.”

In light of this standoff, Beijing unveiled a “zero-tariff” trade agreement with Caracas at the Shanghai Expo 2025, which was announced by Deputy Foreign Trade Minister Kuromoto Godoy. Venezuelan officials said the agreement covers nearly 400 tariff categories, and eliminates customs duties on Chinese and Venezuelan goods.

While final implementation details remain to be verified, the goal is clear: Beijing is moving quickly toward a sanctioned economy that Washington seeks to isolate.

“This looks really nice China is going Gordon Zhang, an expert on China’s global trade strategy, said China will take full control of the Venezuelan economy. It will eliminate Venezuela’s local industry.

“Venezuela mainly sells oil to China and sells very little other products,” he added. “China, of course, is a manufacturer of many, many items. Venezuelan manufacturing is not going to see a renaissance any time soon – it is going in the opposite direction.”

Venezuela is mobilizing its forces and weapons in response to the buildup of US warships in the Caribbean

Sailors aboard the world’s largest aircraft carrier, USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78), launch a Carrier Air Wing 8 F/A-18E Super Hornet attached to Strike Fighter Squadron 31 from the flight deck, Sept. 26, 2025. (Mariano Lopez)

Zhang added that Maduro’s sudden embrace of Beijing stems from fear of Trump’s next move.

“Maduro may not have a choice,” he said. “He realizes he has a problem with Donald J. Trump. There’s a US aircraft carrier not far from his shores, and a lot of military assets are heading toward him. He needs a friend, and he’s desperate.”

“For Maduro, the tariff elimination agreement may provide temporary relief, but it will only deepen dependence,” Zhang added. “I don’t see this trade agreement as strengthening Venezuela. Rather, I see it as strengthening China’s grip on Venezuela.”

US military buildup in Caribbean sees bombers, Marines and warships converging near Venezuela

From Beijing’s perspective, the duty-free agreement opens a commercial and strategic entry into the Western Hemisphere at a time when Washington is doubling down on sanctions.

The Council on Foreign Relations estimates that China has provided about $60 billion in loans to Venezuela over the past two decades, most of which was repaid through oil shipments — a figure that Chinese and Venezuelan officials will still cite in 2025.

Members of the Bolivarian National Militia patrol a street in the 23 de Enero district during a military exercise in Caracas, Venezuela, January 23, 2025. (Leonardo Fernandez Viloria/Reuters)

“China has benefited from billions of dollars in loans and established satellite positioning and surveillance facilities to secure strategic control over Natural resources in Venezuela “Critical infrastructure,” said Isaias Medina III, an Edward Mason Fellow at Harvard University and a former Venezuelan diplomat to the United Nations Security Council.

Medina was referring to the El Sombrero satellite ground station in Venezuela’s Guarico province — a joint project between China and Venezuela that Western analysts, including a recent Associated Press report, describe as part of a broader space cooperation network that gives Beijing an intelligence foothold in Latin America.

The United States is strengthening its military presence in the Caribbean near Venezuela amid Trump’s efforts to stop drug trafficking

Medina said the new agreement should be understood as part of a broader anti-Western coalition.

“Under the slogan of so-called 21st century socialism, launched by Hugo Chavez and expanded by Nicolás Maduro, the country has developed into a forward operating base for regimes openly hostile to the United States and its allies,” he said.

“Iran, Russia, China, and Cuba have entrenched themselves across Venezuelan territory, using the country as a platform for asymmetric warfare, intelligence operations, and ideological expansion throughout Latin America.”

President Nicolas Maduro stands in front of a portrait of the late Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. (AP Photo/Miraflores Press Office, File)

“Russian military footprint includes more than $12 billion in arms sales, ongoing defense cooperation, and the presence of the Wagner Group in military exercises,” he noted, while Cuban military advisors remain present within Venezuelan security institutions.

He added: “Iran has exploited this environment to establish terrorist proxies such as Hezbollah and Hamas, using Venezuela as a financial center and logistical corridor. These activities extend to former training camps in Syria, where Venezuelan agents and mercenaries were indoctrinated in hybrid warfare tactics.” “Iranian interests include possible drone manufacturing and uranium mining.”

“Protected by the absence of the rule of law or legitimate governance, the Maduro government has replaced the art of government with criminal action,” Medina said. “Grand corruption is not the exception; It’s the system.”

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has not yet commented publicly on the strike. (Ariana Cubillos/AP Photo)

He added, “The human losses are catastrophic.” “More than 30% of Venezuela’s population has been forcibly displaced. Famine has been used as an instrument of social control, amounting to a war crime under international law. Despite the enormity of these crimes, many UN member states continue to recognize and engage with this illegitimate regime, thus perpetuating its impunity. The failure to confront this crisis decisively enables a coalition of adversaries, both state and non-state actors, to project power dangerously close to US territory.”

Currently, Washington’s sanctions campaign continues to restrict Venezuela’s oil lifelines. In March 2025, Reuters reported that US threats to impose tariffs on countries buying Venezuelan crude caused a temporary interruption in shipments to China. Beijing rejected these measures, describing them as “illegal, extraterritorial acts” and pledged to continue cooperation, but did not reveal how the new customs duty exemption agreement would be implemented.

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The Maduro administration is seeking to rally government supporters amid a downturn in the economy and the refugee crisis. (Jesus Vargas/AP Photo)

Zhang said the basic reality has not changed: China cannot protect Caracas from American hard power.

“It can certainly launch a propaganda blitz, but it can’t deploy military force in the region. It’s really up to what President Trump does. China doesn’t have the military power to oppose American intervention if that’s what Trump decides,” he said.

Medina agrees that the risks go beyond economics. “Just three hours from US shores, this terrorist drug regime has become an operational meeting point for… Organized crime and drug traffickingmoney laundering and human rights atrocities,” he urged a Western response that combined “diplomatic isolation, targeted sanctions and, when necessary, defensive deployment.”