CARACAS – U.S. President Donald Trump has escalated tensions by proposing a blockade on sanctioned oil tankers from Venezuela, a decision that could critically impact a nation already enduring prolonged economic turmoil.

With a history of navigating political, social, and economic strife, Venezuelans on Wednesday expressed that while the threat heightened concerns about their nation’s trajectory, it also felt like yet another challenge to endure.

“We’ve been through so many crises, from food to gasoline shortages, that one more doesn’t really faze us,” remarked Milagro Viana as she waited for a bus in Caracas, the capital city.

On Tuesday, Trump declared his intention to prevent all “sanctioned oil tankers” from reaching Venezuela, intensifying the pressure on President Nicolás Maduro.

Despite possessing the largest proven oil reserves globally, Venezuela’s current production hovers around 1 million barrels per day. Recently, U.S. forces intercepted a tanker near the Venezuelan coastline after increasing their presence in the area.

Trump used social media on Tuesday night to claim Venezuela was leveraging oil revenues to support drug trafficking and other illicit activities. He pledged to maintain the military pressure until Venezuela relinquishes oil, land, and other resources to the U.S., though details of these allegations were not disclosed.

Since the first Trump administration imposed punishing oil sanctions on Venezuela in 2017, Maduro’s government has used sanctioned oil tankers to smuggle the country’s crude into global supply chains.

David Smilde, a Tulane University professor who has studied Venezuela for more than three decades, said a full implementation of Trump’s threat will cause a huge economic contraction because oil represents 90% of the country’s exports.

“This is a country that traditionally imports a lot, not just finished goods, but most intermediate goods – everything from toilet paper to food containers,” Smilde said. “If you don’t have you don’t have foreign currency coming up, that just brings the whole economy to a halt.”