Trump says India will buy oil from Venezuela, not Iran

US President Donald Trump on Saturday said India will buy Venezuelan oil, as opposed to purchasing oil from Iran.

“We’ve already made that deal, the concept of the deal,” Trump told reporters while on Air Force One, en route to Florida from Washington, D.C.

Trump’s comment came a day after the United States told Delhi it could soon resume purchases of Venezuelan oil to help replace imports of Russian oil, three people familiar with the matter told Reuters.

The US effort to supply Venezuelan crude to India comes as Washington seeks to reduce the oil revenue that is funding Russia in its war in Ukraine.

Donald Trump imposed 25% tariffs on countries buying Venezuelan oil, including India, in March last year.

Trump also said on Saturday that China was also welcome to make a deal with the US to buy Venezuelan oil.

Venezuela wants to boost oil production by at least 18 percent this year through reforms that will fully open the sector to private investors, the head of the state oil giant PDVSA said Saturday.

The country’s interim president, Delcy Rodriguez, proposed the legislative reforms last week and it passed a first reading Thursday in parliament, which is headed by her brother.

Analysts say the reforms, expected to pass next week, were drafted under pressure from Washington after the US military raid that toppled president Nicolas Maduro on January 3.

“We had a law…that was not up to date with what we needed as an industry,” PDVSA chief Hector Obregon said.