Trump warns Venezuela's Maduro against playing 'tough' as U.S. Coast Guard chases another tanker

U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday delivered a new warning to Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro as the U.S. Coast Guard steps up efforts to seize oil tankers in the Caribbean Sea as part of the Republican administration's escalating pressure campaign on the government in Caracas.

Trump was surrounded by his top national security aides, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, as he suggested that he remains ready to further escalate his four-month pressure campaign on the Maduro government, which began with the stated purpose of stemming the flow of illegal drugs from the South American nation but has developed into something more amorphous.

"If he wants to do something, if he plays tough, it'll be the last time he'll ever be able to play tough," Trump said of Maduro as he took a break from his Florida vacation to announce plans for the Navy to build a new, large warship.

Trump levied his latest threat as the U.S. Coast Guard on Monday continued for a second day to chase a sanctioned oil tanker that the Trump administration describes as part of a "dark fleet" Venezuela is using to evade U.S. sanctions. The tanker, according to the White House, is flying under a false flag and is under a U.S. judicial seizure order.

"It's moving along and we'll end up getting it," Trump said.

It is the third tanker pursued by the U.S. Coast Guard, which on Saturday seized a Panama-flagged vessel called Centuries that U.S. officials said was part of the Venezuelan shadow fleet.

The Coast Guard, with assistance from the Navy, seized a sanctioned tanker that was registered in Panama called Skipper on Dec. 10, also part of the shadow fleet of tankers the U.S. says operates on the fringes of the law to move sanctioned cargo.

Trump, after that first seizure, said the U.S. would carry out a "blockade" of Venezuela. Trump has repeatedly said that Maduro's days in power are numbered.

Last week, Trump demanded that Venezuela return assets that it seized from U.S. oil companies years ago, justifying anew his announcement of a blockade against sanctioned oil tankers travelling to or from the South American country.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, whose agency oversees the Coast Guard, said in a Monday appearance on Fox & Friends that the targeting of tankers is intended to send "a message around the world that the illegal activity that Maduro is participating in cannot stand, he needs to be gone, and that we will stand up for our people."

Later on Monday, Trump said Washington would maybe keep or maybe sell the oil it had seized off the coast of Venezuela in recent weeks, adding the U.S. would also keep the seized ships.

Meantime, tanker loading in Venezuela dwindled on Monday, with most ships moving oil cargoes only between domestic ports. A tanker that's considered part of the shadow fleet was spotted moving between Venezuelan refineries, including one about three hours west of the capital, Caracas.

The tanker remained at the refinery in El Palito through Sunday, when families went to the town's beach to relax with children now on break from school. Music played on loudspeakers as people swam and surfed with the tanker in the background.

Families and groups of teenagers enjoyed themselves, but Manuel Salazar, who has parked cars at the beach for more than three decades, noticed differences from years past, when the country's oil-dependent economy was in better shape and the energy industry produced at least double the current one million barrels per day.