How Trumps Venezuela embargo could put Taiwan at risk

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U.S. forces abseil onto an oil tanker during a raid described by U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi as its seizure by the United States off the coast of Venezuela, December 10, 2025, in a still image from video. U.S. Attorney General/Handout via REUTERS

WASHINGTON, Dec 18 - Donald Trumps decision to impose a partial blockade on Venezuela marks a dramatic escalation in U.S. pressure on Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, but it also risks undermining a top U.S. policy goal: deterring a potential Chinese naval encirclement of Taiwan.

The U.S. president on Tuesday ordered the total and complete blockade of all sanctioned oil tankers entering and leaving Venezuela, a move aimed at choking the Maduro governments main source of income. But the action immediately raised questions under international law about whether it amounts ‍to an act ​of war.

In the Indo-Pacific, military planners have long feared that China might use a naval blockade to coerce democratically governed Taiwan to accept Beijings rule.

While China considers ‍Taiwan its own territory and would be unlikely to lean on international law to justify military action toward the island, experts say Beijing could exploit a U.S. blockade of Venezuela to undercut any American efforts to drum up international diplomatic opposition to such a move in the ​Taiwan Strait.

If the U.S. blockades ​to change political outcomes in Venezuela, China can justify coercive measures against Taiwan on so-called security grounds, said Craig Singleton,