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President Trump used a campaign stop in Corpus Christi, Texas, on Tuesday to show off a tanker he said was carrying Venezuelan oil, pitching it as proof that gas prices are about to come down a week before the midterms.
Getting into it: Speaking from a warehouse at the city’s port, Trump pointed through the open doors at a tanker out on the water and said it was loaded with a million barrels of Venezuelan crude headed to Texas refineries, provided at no cost to taxpayers. He credited the shipment to the US victory in what he called the recent war with Venezuela, which ended with the capture of Nicolas Maduro on Jan. 3, and to an August deal giving a new company partly owned by the Pentagon control over 65 billion barrels of Venezuelan reserves.
Trump’s claims about the shipment couldn’t be independently verified right away, and Venezuela’s interim leader, Delcy Rodriguez, has said nothing about it.
Gas prices have been one of the biggest issues of the campaign since the US-Israeli war on Iran sent them soaring earlier this year. Even though the US is the world’s top oil producer, most of its refineries were built decades ago to process the heavy, “sour” crude that comes from places like Canada, Mexico and Venezuela, not the light, “sweet” oil pumped from American shale fields.
Because of this, the US ships most of its own crude overseas and imports about 6 to 7 million barrels a day at global prices, which ties what Americans pay at the pump to wars and supply shocks abroad. Experts have questioned whether the Venezuela deal will make much of a dent in prices any time soon.
Trump also renewed calls to make Venezuela the 51st state, noting that both countries would benefit tremendously if Venezuela came under the United States’ umbrella.






