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Trump announces ‘warriors dividend’ for troops
Trump announced on Wednesday he would be issuing checks to US service members for $1,776 (£1,329), calling the payment, which he said would be paid for, in part, by his tariffs, the “warrior dividend”.
In a televised address to the nation, the president said the cheques for 1.45 million US service members should arrive before Christmas.
“1,450,000 military service members will receive a special, we call, warrior dividend before Christmas. A warrior dividend. In honor of our nation’s founding in 1776, we are sending every soldier $1,776,” Trump said.
“And the checks are already on the way,” he added.
Trump credited his sweeping tariffs for bringing in money to the US, but did not set out details about how the initiative would be funded in full.
The defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, who has regularly outlined his visions for a cultural shift at the Pentagon and a so-called greater “warrior ethos”, directed the Pentagon to pay out $2.6bn as a “one-time basic allowance for housing supplement to all eligible service members in pay grades O-6 and below,” a senior official told CNN.
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The Trump administration is not only conducting deadly strikes on alleged Venezuelan drug-smuggling boats, the president has also targeted the country’s main source of income: the oil industry.
Venezuela has the world’s largest proven oil reserves and produces about 1m barrels a day. The country’s economy depends on the industry, with more than 80% of output exported.
Trump said earlier this week that he had instituted a blockade of all sanctioned oil tankers entering and leaving Venezuela, as he accused Caracas of using oil to fund drug trafficking and other crimes and vowed to escalate the US’s military buildup.
Here is an extract from a useful explainer by the Guardian’s energy correspondent, Jillian Ambrose, on the reaction to Trump saying on Tuesday he was ordering a “total and complete blockade” of all oil tankers that are under sanctions entering and leaving Venezuela, which came only a week after the US seized an oil tanker off the country’s coast:
Market analysts at Goldman Sachs said the loss of Venezuelan crude exports owing to Trump’s blockade could cause the market to tighten slightly in the short-term, which would lead to higher prices.
But in the longer-term, a political upheaval that would allow for an influx of western oil companies into the country could mean an increase in oil exports and greater supplies in the market.
The blockade prompted a sharp rise in the international oil price as traders factored in the growing possibility of disruption to global supplies.
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Updated at 06.37 EST
Russia says it hopes Trump will not make ‘a fatal mistake’ on Venezuela after latest deadly vessel strike
Good morning, and welcome to our live coverage of US politics. Russia’s foreign ministry said this morning that it hopes the Trump administration will not make a “fatal” mistake over Venezuela after the US military carried out its latest lethal strike on a vessel in the eastern Pacific on Wednesday, killing four men.
“We hope that the D. Trump administration, which is characterized by a rational and pragmatic approach, will not make a fatal mistake,” the Russian foreign ministry said.
The ministry said that Moscow was concerned about the potential impact of US military action on international navigation, and said it hoped the US would not wade into a situation that would have “unpredictable consequences for the entire western Hemisphere”.
On Wednesday, the defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, said the “lethal kinetic strike” on the vessel allegedly engaged in “narco-trafficking operations” had killed four people.
Pete Hegseth walks on the day of a classified briefing for all senators on Venezuela, on Capitol Hill, on 16 December 2025. Photograph: Kevin Mohatt/Reuters
The US has over 20 vessels in the Pacific and the Caribbean near Venezuela as part of Donald Trump’s escalating campaign in the region, which he says is targeting drug trafficking without publishing evidence to justify his claims.
Since September, the US military has killed about 100 people with its strikes on boats that were allegedly transporting illegal drugs to the US. Legal experts have accused the US of conducting an unchecked campaign of extrajudicial killings in international waters.
Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, in power since 2013, has said that Trump wants to remove him from office and warned that Venezuelan citizens and the military will resist any such attempt.
We will have more on this story, and other political developments in the US, shortly.
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Updated at 06.21 EST
