I was surprised the other day to find out the U.S. imports oil from Venezuela. But also, in 2016 Venezuela imported oil from the U.S. It apparently needs lighter oil to mix with its own heavy oil to facilitate the refining process.
I'm wondering who is feeding Trump his talking points - I know Stephen Miller is very influential domestically, but I have no idea whose counsel he heeds when, for example, smearing Germany. His manipulation of facts is somewhat sophisticated, in that he (mis)applies actual numbers to come up with his 70 percent figure, when in fact Russia probably supplies about 10 percent of Germany's energy needs.
Is Putin wondering WTF Trump is doing, trying to steal Russia's customers? Besides which, the energy required to transport energy means essentially less net energy.
Something is going on with him and trade - he seems very touchy about it, for example lashing out at Canada and the World Health Organization which respect to tariffs/policies that undermine U.S. attempts to unload its dairy surplus on other countries. I get the feeling he is frustrated to find out how interconnected the world is, how other countries trade with each other rather than somehow being dependent on the U.S., which is a net importer of just about everything (except cereal crops and, probably, weapons).
No one knew global trade could be so complicated!
