The Morning Risk Report: Venezuela's Maduro Seemed Untouchable. Now He Will Stand Trial in New York. By David Smagalla | Dow Jones Risk Journal
Good morning. Venezuelan strongman Nicolás Maduro had long seemed untouchable despite a $50 million bounty on his head and a U.S. indictment unsealed in 2020 accusing him of narco-terrorism.
Now Maduro, who was whisked out of the country along with his wife after a military strike early Saturday, faces the prospect of a trial in a New York federal court
for drug trafficking and conspiring with terrorists. He is slated to appear in Manhattan federal court in New York on Monday .
President Trump said the U.S. would run Venezuela until there can be a "proper" transition. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Sunday said the U.S. would be "running policy," after Maduro's removal.
What to do about sanctions: Trump also said that U.S. companies would now invest
in Venezuela's oil sector following his capture of the country's president. But trade experts told Dow Jones Risk Journal's Max Fillion that the U.S. Treasury still has to iron out several thorny sanctions questions
before they can comfortably do so.
Good news for some: Maduro's capture poses a huge opportunity for Chevron , the only major U.S. company still licensed by the Trump administration to operate there and for the oil refineries that were designed to process
heavy, sour grades of crude oil from Venezuela and elsewhere.
Challenges for others remain: For other U.S. companies looking to move forward with activity in Venezuela's oil sector, the U.S. Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control will have to clear a pathway around sanctions currently in place on the country's government and its state-oil company, Petróleos de Venezuela.
More Venezuela coverage:
US intervention in Venezuela underscores a regional, not global, military focus
(Oxford Analytica) Maduro's arrest leaves US well short of its objectives in Venezuela
(Oxford Analytica) Analysis: US captures Maduro
(Dragonfly) Implications for U.S. Capture of Venezuela's Maduro on Oil Markets (OPIS)
After Maduro Ouster, Trump Takes On the Risks of Governing Venezuela
(WSJ) U.S. Plays Down Quick Return to Democracy in Venezuela
(WSJ) Compliance
The climate rules to look out for this year.
Global sustainability regulations are starting to take shape after years of debate, offering some clarity to companies seeking to understand how climate change will affect their businesses in the second half of the decade.
Our Sustainable Business team looked at some of the key regulations to watch in 2026 , including the European Union's new carbon tax, climate risk disclosure rules in California and how Scope 2 emissions are accounted for by companies.
Danish and Norwegian energy companies Orsted and Equinor are seeking injunctions
against the Trump administration's order halting construction of all U.S. offshore wind projects.
The U.S. Treasury postponed a new anti-money-laundering compliance regulation
for investment advisors until 2028, reports Risk Journal's Max Fillion.
Spain's Council of Ministers granted Airbus an exemption to import Israeli military technology
despite a total arms embargo imposed in September over the war in Gaza, reports Risk Journal's Anwar Faruqi.
A federal court denied
environmental groups' request to halt the restart of Sable Offshore's oil pipeline in central California. Risk
Iran's calculations are scrambled by U.S. raid in Caracas.
President Trump's threat to intervene in Iran's protests carries new urgency for Tehran
now that the U.S. capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro has raised uncertainty around how far the president is willing to go.
Trump said Friday that Washington was "locked and loaded" to come to the aid of Iranian protesters
if Tehran cracks down harshly on them. A day later, the U.S. military launched strikes on the capital of Venezuela, an Iran ally, and brought Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, to the U.S. to face criminal charges .
"It confirms that Trump is unpredictable and truly everything is on the table vis a vis Iran," said Sanam Vakil, director of the Middle East and North Africa program at Chatham House, a think tank in London.
Iran's Refusal to Dial Back Nuclear Program Lit Fuse on Currency Crisis
Could Beijing Attempt a Venezuela-Like Strike on Taiwan Leaders?
Kraft Heinz executives overseeing a sprawling portfolio of cheese, cold cuts, lunch kits and boxed dinners are facing a dilemma
shared by other legacy food companies: Fiddle with flagship products and risk losing the loyal customers who made them category killers, or stick with old formulas that don't interest younger shoppers.
President Trump hit India with 50% tariffs in 2025, one of the highest levels among U.S. trading partners. But Prime Minister Narendra Modi's efforts to juice consumer spending
and bolster India's economy are showing signs of success, allowing him to hold the line in trade negotiations with the U.S.
Sam Altman wants OpenAI to have an app store to rival Apple's. Early tests suggest he's got a long way to go . Podcast
What's News host Luke Vargas interviews Washington coverage chief Damian Paletta and national security reporter Vera Bergengruen.
The WSJ podcast covers what we know about the military operation itself; the Trump administration's stated and underlying rationale; what this says about U.S. power projection in Latin America; and what it means for oil companies and energy security. Click here to listen .
What Else Matters Wall Street is betting that falling interest rates and strong corporate earnings will be enough to eke out yet one more year of stock-market gains. It's going to be close .
It can be hard to understand Elon Musk's reality-especially as he appears to be on track to become the world's first trillionaire this year. Even he questions that reality .
The massive welfare-fraud scandal in Minnesota dogging Gov. Tim Walz as he seeks re-election in a state that has prided itself on good governance is giving Republicans a potent line of attack
against a critic of President Trump. About Us
Follow us on X at @WSJRisk . Send tips to our reporters Max Fillion at [max.fillion@dowjones.com], Mengqi Sun at [mengqi.sun@wsj.com] and Richard Vanderford at [richard.vanderford@wsj.com].
You can also reach us by replying to any newsletter, or by emailing our editor David Smagalla at [david.smagalla@wsj.com].
This article is a text version of a Wall Street Journal newsletter published earlier today.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
January 05, 2026 07:07 ET (12:07 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2026 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
