Trump expected to make shipbuilding announcement amid tensions around Venezuela
President Donald Trump listens during a ceremony for the presentation of the Mexican Border Defense Medal in the Oval Office of the White House on December 15 in Washington
By Kevin Liptak, CNN
(CNN) — President Donald Trump is expected to make an announcement about shipbuilding alongside his Pentagon chief and Navy secretary on Monday, according to a person familiar with the plans.
The announcement, set for 4:30 p.m. ET from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, comes amid a massive US naval buildup in the Caribbean Sea as Trump applies pressure on Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro, including attempts to cut off his oil revenues.
The Navy on Friday announced it would commission a new class of frigates, built in the United States, as part of the new “Golden Fleet,” which Trump envisions as a more advanced collection of ships meant to better counter China. Frigates are designed to protect sea lanes and protect larger vessels.
The Navy has been involved in a string of interdictions of oil tankers in the Caribbean, though the US Coast Guard has taken the lead in the operations. The US has intercepted two tankers off the coast of Venezuela this month, and on Sunday, the Coast Guard was in “active pursuit” of the massive tanker Bella 1 after it refused to submit to US seizure efforts.
The status of the pursuit was unclear on Monday morning, but American officials said the fact that the tanker — which was empty and headed to Venezuela to load up on oil — turned around and is now sailing away from the country was itself a success.
The-CNN-Wire
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