Analysts Call Trump’s Policy ‘Resource Nationalism’

President Trump’s recent comments about Venezuelan oil are not an isolated remark, analysts say, but part of a long-standing approach that views foreign natural resources as assets the United States should control. In recent weeks, the Trump administration has intensified pressure on Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, citing drug-trafficking allegations to justify the seizure of tankers carrying Venezuelan crude and the pursuit of a third vessel. When asked Monday what the US intends to do with the oil, Trump replied, “Maybe we will sell it, maybe we will keep it. Maybe we’ll use it in the Strategic Reserves. We’re keeping the ships also,” according to the BBC.

Researchers and policy experts argue that this strategy reflects what Patrick Bigger of the Transition Security Project describes as “resource imperialism,” the use of military threats or economic coercion to secure access to energy supplies, the Guardian reports. Trump has repeatedly argued that the United States should have taken Iraq’s oil as compensation for the war and has linked a small remaining US military presence in eastern Syria to “securing” oil fields there, at one point suggesting that Exxon Mobil could develop them. His administration has also relied heavily on sanctions to cut off Iran’s oil revenues, warning that countries purchasing Iranian energy would face US penalties.

This mindset extends beyond oil. Trump has advocated stronger US control over rare earth elements and other critical minerals, pointing to Greenland’s deposits of cobalt, nickel, copper, and lithium, and has declined to rule out the use of force to obtain them. The US has explored investments in Greenland’s mining sector and reached an agreement with Ukraine granting preferential access to minerals and uranium in exchange for military assistance. Trump has also encouraged allies, including the UK, to expand fossil fuel production and has dismissed international climate initiatives as a “green scam.”

Energy expert Alice Hill says Trump views fossil fuel dominance as central to American power, regardless of international norms or climate science. Analysts describe this outlook as a form of resource nationalism focused on maintaining fossil fuel supremacy and leveraging supply chains, particularly in competition with China. Adam Hanieh, a development scholar and author of Crude Capitalism: Oil, Corporate Power, and the Making of the World Market, told the Guardian that Trump’s strategy follows a familiar pattern. “Earlier administrations sought the same control over energy, minerals, and strategic chokepoints,” Hanieh said, “but framed it in terms of multilateral cooperation and market stability. Trump simply states the extractive logic outright.”

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