Text of a Letter from the President to the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President of the Senate

Dear Mr. Speaker:     (Dear Mr. President:)

Pursuant to the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) (50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.), I hereby report that I have signed an Executive Order with respect to Venezuela that takes additional steps with respect to the national emergency declared in Executive Order 13692 of March 8, 2015.  

The Executive Order prohibits transactions related to provision of financing for, and other dealings in (i) new debt of Petroleos de Venezuela, S.A. (PdVSA) with a maturity of greater than 90 days, (ii) new debt of the rest of the Government of Venezuela with a maturity of greater than 30 days, (iii) new equity of the Government of Venezuela (including PdVSA), (iv) bonds issued by the Government of Venezuela before the effective date of this Executive Order, and (v) dividend payments or other distributions of profit to the Government of Venezuela from any entity owned or controlled, directly or indirectly, by that government.  The Executive Order also prohibits purchases of securities from the Government of Venezuela.  The Secretary of the Treasury has authority to issue general licenses to mitigate hardship to the American and Venezuelan people and any negative unintended consequences that may result from this action.

I have authorized the Secretary of the Treasury, in consultation with the Secretary of State, to take such actions, including promulgating rules and regulations and to employ all powers granted to the President by IEEPA as may be necessary to carry out the purposes of the Executive Order.

I am enclosing a copy of the Executive Order I have issued.

Sincerely,

DONALD J. TRUMP