The United States expanded sanctions waivers for Venezuela, facilitating electricity and petrochemical investments and allowing fertilizer exports to the U.S. market, Reuters reported on March 13.

The U.S. Treasury Department updated three general licenses but maintained restrictions on Venezuela's transactions with Russia, Iran, North ​Korea, China and Cuba. The changes follow previous rounds of eased restrictions that allowed Western companies to operate in Venezuela's oil sector and export its crude to U.S. buyers following the Jan. 3 capture of then-Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. Venezuela's nominal urea fertilizer production capacity is 3.3 million tons, and it exported nearly 400,000 metric tons in 2025, mainly to Brazil. U.S. urea fertilizer demand has historically stabilized around 20 million metric tons.