U.S. Wants EU to Impose Tougher Sanctions on Venezuela

The Trump administration will press the EU to impose harsher sanctions on Venezuela as part of a diplomatic visit to Brussels this week, Financial Times writes.

Washington has imposed punitive economic measures against Caracas to apply pressure on the government of Nicolas Maduro, which it accuses of corruption and fomenting a humanitarian crisis.

So far, the U.S. has imposed financial sanctions on 115 individuals, revoked the visas of hundreds more and imposed an oil embargo on the OPEC nation while restricting Venezuelan access to U.S. financial markets, FT adds.

President Trump issued an executive order in August that extends previous sanctions against the Maduro regime and is designed to prevent third-party countries doing business with the government in Caracas.

The EU has imposed more limited sanctions on 18 individuals linked to the Maduro regime, along with an arms embargo to prevent Caracas buying weapons. 

The state department’s Venezuela envoy, Elliott Abrams, has said he will push Brussels to join Washington in its pressure campaign when he visits Europe this week.

The EU warned this summer that it would impose further sanctions on Caracas if no progress was made in talks between the Maduro government and the opposition representatives being held in Norway. Such countermeasures require unanimity among the bloc’s 28 member states.

Be the first to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.


*