Mike Steger argued that President Donald Trump’s oil agreement with Venezuela represents a new approach to international economic development, contrasting the deal with British imperialism, the post-World War II liberal economic order and China’s Belt and Road Initiative.

"President Trump isn't looting Venezuela using British imperial methods. He's not even using neoliberal tactics to sink Caracas into debt," Steger said.

"He's actually overturning the entire globalization paradigm, and Venezuela will be his scientific demonstration of the revival of true American methods."

Steger said Venezuela possesses more than 300 billion barrels of known oil reserves and described the agreement as the largest oil deal in history.

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According to Steger, it gives the United States majority control of more than 65 billion barrels of proven Venezuelan reserves while creating economic benefits for both countries.

"This Venezuela deal, which many globalist rags are calling a violation of Venezuelan sovereignty, as if they even know what that is, is actually the outline of a third option for real global development," Steger said.

Steger said the U.S. Department of War’s Office of Strategic Capital is taking a direct 35% stake in North American Blue Energy Partners, a company established in 2024.

He said the arrangement comes at no cost to American taxpayers.

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According to Steger, the State Department will also have the ability to purchase 20% of the oil produced at cost and will have the right of first refusal on the remaining production.

He argued that provision could give the United States access to additional supplies during an emergency.

Steger said North American Blue Energy Partners is registered in Barbados, maintains three offices in Venezuela, has a Venezuelan president and operates under U.S. legal jurisdiction.

Venezuela’s government will determine its revenue share under Venezuelan law, he said.

"There will be up to $100 billion in new Venezuelan infrastructure and a projected $200 billion for Venezuela in royalties and taxes over the first 25 years," Steger said.

He compared those figures with Venezuela’s 2025 federal budget of $22 billion and said the agreement could add an average minimum of $8 billion annually.

"So, bare bones, this is not neoliberal corporatism, a.k.a. private capital extracting a resource with no accountability to any nation, and it's not Chávez communism," Steger said.

"It's a third option: two governments dealing directly with a private corporation doing the work in between, bilateral, sovereign to sovereign, with private sector backing."

Steger contrasted the agreement with Britain’s involvement in Persian oil beginning in 1901.

He said William Knox D’Arcy obtained exclusive rights to most Persian oil for 60 years, while Persia received 16% of profits.

Britain later acquired a majority interest in the oil company as the Royal Navy shifted from coal to oil.

Steger argued that the Venezuela agreement differs because the private company is Venezuelan with U.S. oversight, the American government has a 35% equity stake and Venezuela can receive a substantially larger share of revenues.

"Venezuela gets real development, and the United States also wins, not U.S. multinational corporations, but the United States and our citizens," Steger said.

"This is not British imperialism, nor is it neoliberal destruction."

Steger also criticized the American-led economic order established after World War II.

He pointed to the Marshall Plan, American military commitments and nearly tariff-free access to the U.S. market for allied countries, arguing that the system eventually contributed to the decline of American manufacturing and the rise of multinational corporations.

"The system of liberal goodwill totally failed. Globalization failed," Steger said.

China’s Belt and Road Initiative, Steger argued, does not provide a sufficient alternative.

He cited Sri Lanka’s Hambantota port, which was financed largely through Chinese loans before being leased for 99 years after Sri Lanka encountered serious debt problems.

Steger characterized China’s model as export-oriented and designed to maintain its manufacturing position rather than foster independent industrial development in other nations.

"The point, we need a new system," Steger said.

"The old British methods are equivalent to globalization or its communist inversion. These systems all lead in the same direction of national destruction, political instability, and ultimately war."

Steger said Trump’s Venezuela strategy instead seeks to encourage energy production, deregulation and industrial investment while maintaining direct relationships between sovereign governments.

"We're ending the era of zero growth," Steger said.

"We're calling on all nations to unleash their energy potential, to deregulate and open their economies for major industrial investments so they can build strong and vibrant nations."

He connected the Venezuela agreement with broader efforts involving pipelines in the Middle East and direct U.S. dialogue with Russia and China, arguing that economic development and cooperation can provide an alternative to confrontation.

"We're building the American system on a global scale," Steger said.

"Pipelines all over the Middle East, direct dialogue with Russia and China, our top competitors, collaboration, not war, and real growth, not communist drug cartels, for the Americas."

Steger ultimately described Venezuela as a test of whether the model can produce long-term economic growth while benefiting both the United States and its partner.

"Venezuela is Trump's test case. He's showing the entire world how the American system truly works," Steger said.

"He's unleashing a new era of growth powered by the American principles of political freedom and the right to build and grow."

"The true power of the American system is the greatest threat to the globalists," Steger added.

"It always has been, and it always will be. This is the great weapon of President Trump."

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