Trump seeks to stop courts from seizing Venezuela oil revenue

The executive order states that the revenue, which is held in foreign government deposit funds, are “held solely for sovereign purposes” and that any court attempt to seize the funds will “materially harm the national security and foreign policy” of the U.S.

The order, which declared a national emergency, said the funds are the sovereign property of Venezuela held in U.S. custody for governmental and diplomatic means, and are not assets subject to private claims. Any use of judicial process against the funds will interfere with efforts to “ensure economic and political stability in Venezuela,” the order says.

Trump signed the order nearly one week after U.S. military forces captured Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, in Caracas. Both were indicted on drug-trafficking charges and have pleaded not guilty. 

Since the military operation, Trump has said that both nations “are working well together” on rebuilding Venezuela’s oil and gas infrastructure and that American oil giants will invest at least $100 billion in the South American country.

Trump met with major oil industry executives on Friday afternoon in an effort to get U.S. oil companies to invest in Venezuela. In that meeting, ExxonMobil CEO Darren Woods told Trump that right now Venezuela is “uninvestable.”

ConocoPhillips and ExxonMobil exited Venezuela after its government, under President Hugo Chávez, nationalized the country’s oil sector along with several other key industries. Both companies have filed arbitration cases against Venezuela seeking billions of dollars in compensation for assets that were expropriated by the government.

Chevron is the only major U.S. oil company currently operating in Venezuela through a special license issued by the Trump administration.

In his Friday order, Trump cited the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act and the 1976 National Emergencies Act as legal justification for safeguarding Venezuelan oil revenue in U.S. accounts.

The White House did not immediately respond to a CNBC request for comment.