{"id":649318,"date":"2025-12-23T00:28:16","date_gmt":"2025-12-23T00:28:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/649318\/"},"modified":"2025-12-23T00:28:16","modified_gmt":"2025-12-23T00:28:16","slug":"hes-no-friend-to-the-united-states-donald-trump-says-venezuelas-maduro-to-leave-power-world-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/649318\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018He\u2019s no friend to the United States\u2019: Donald Trump says Venezuela\u2019s Maduro to leave power | World News"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\"PresidentPresident Donald Trump speaks at his Mar-a-Lago club, Monday, Dec. 22, 2025, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo\/Alex Brandon)<\/p>\n

US President Donald Trump said on Monday that it would be \u201csmart\u201d for Venezuelan President Nicol\u00e1s Maduro to leave office, as Washington increases pressure on Caracas through military action and oil seizures.<\/p>\n

Speaking to reporters at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, Trump said any decision to step down was ultimately Maduro\u2019s choice.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it probably would force him out,\u201d Trump said. \u201cThat\u2019s up to him what he wants to do. I think it\u2019d be smart for him to do that,\u201d according to Reuters.<\/p>\n

What Trump said<\/p>\n

When asked if the aim of US actions was to remove Maduro from power, Trump said the situation would become clearer over time.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf he wants to do something, if he plays tough, it\u2019ll be the last time he\u2019s ever able to play tough,\u201d Trump said.<\/p>\n

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He also accused Maduro of hostility towards the United States and of involvement in drug production and trafficking. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s no friend to the United States. He\u2019s very bad. Very bad guy. He\u2019s gotta \u200cwatch his ass because he makes cocaine and they send it into the US\u201d, he said. <\/p>\n

What the US is doing<\/p>\n

The Trump administration has increased its military presence near Venezuela and carried out more than two dozen strikes on vessels accused of drug trafficking in the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea.<\/p>\n

At least 100 people have been killed in the strikes, Reuters said. Trump has also announced what he described as a blockade of oil tankers<\/strong><\/a> operating under sanctions to and from Venezuela.<\/p>\n

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Oil seizures<\/p>\n

Trump said the United States could either keep or sell oil seized from tankers off Venezuela\u2019s coast<\/strong><\/a> in recent weeks.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe we will sell it, maybe we will keep it,\u201d he said, adding that the oil could be used to replenish US strategic reserves, according to Reuters.<\/p>\n

The US Coast Guard began pursuing another oil tanker in international waters near Venezuela on Sunday. If seized, it would be the third such operation in less than two weeks, Reuters reported.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"President Donald Trump speaks at his Mar-a-Lago club, Monday, Dec. 22, 2025, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo\/Alex…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":649319,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5311],"tags":[144217,122563,32,198833,198834,189253,198831,37887,198832,24216,7101,16339,49,978,37367,659,117661,18623],"class_list":{"0":"post-649318","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-states","8":"tag-caracas","9":"tag-caribbean-sea","10":"tag-donald-trump","11":"tag-drug-production","12":"tag-indian-express-world","13":"tag-mar-a-lago","14":"tag-military-action","15":"tag-nicolas-maduro","16":"tag-oil-seizures","17":"tag-pacific-ocean","18":"tag-strikes","19":"tag-trafficking","20":"tag-united-states","21":"tag-us","22":"tag-us-president","23":"tag-usa","24":"tag-venezuelan-president","25":"tag-vessels"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115766056888265708","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/649318","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=649318"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/649318\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/649319"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=649318"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=649318"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=649318"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}