Trump's Venezuela Deal: A Complex Web of Oil, Politics, and Color Theory The United States' relationship with Venezuela is marked by a long history of involvement in the country's oil reserves.
American oil companies first began extracting Venezuela's vast oil reserves in the early 20th century, securing cheap oil for the US while generating revenue for Venezuela's government.
However, relations between the two nations took a turn for the worse in the late 1990s and early 2000s when Hugo Chávez's socialist government nationalized key sectors of the economy.