Trump Now Has His Very Own Oil Empire
A Madrid protestor holds a caricature of Donald Trump drinking from a Venezuelan oil barrel by Portuguese cartoonist Vasco Gargalo.
Photographer: THOMAS COEX/AFPLet’s do the math. Start with the oil production of the US and add Canada. Then include Venezuela and the rest of Latin America, from Mexico to Argentina and everywhere else in between: Brazil, Guyana, Colombia. Like it or not, all of them are living under the “Donroe Doctrine” — an increasingly belligerent Washington’s sphere of influence over the Americas. Together they account for nearly 40% of the world’s oil output.
Then it’s a choice of language to describe what the US administration will do with all those barrels. It may try to exert direct control as in Venezuela, or oversee, influence and simply enjoy the benefits of what’s produced. Whatever the word, President Donald Trump now has his very own oil empire.