Briefly

UNITED STATES

War with Venezuela possible, Trump says

US President Donald Trump said he was leaving the possibility of war with ‍ ‍Venezuela on the table, according to an interview with NBC News published on Friday. "I don't rule it out, no," he told NBC News in a phone interview. Trump also said there would beadditional seizures of oil tankers near Venezuelan waters, according to the interview. The US seized a sanctioned oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela last week. "If they're foolish enough to be sailing along, they'll be sailing along back into one of our harbors," he told NBC News. On Tuesday, Trump ordered a "blockade" of all sanctioned oil tankers entering and leaving Venezuela, in Washington's latest move to increase pressure on Nicolas Maduro's government, targeting its main source of income, following which Venezuela's government said it rejected Trump's "grotesque threat".

EUROPEAN UNION

Mercosur trade deal signing delayed

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen expressed confidence on Friday that the European Union would be able to sign a contentious free trade agreement with the South American bloc Mercosur in January, despite insufficient backing at an EU summit. The European Commission president had been due ‍ ‍to travel to Brazil for a signing ceremony on Saturday, but this was reliant on approval from a broad majority of EU members. A demand from Italy for more time meant it lacked sufficient support. Von der Leyen still talked of a "breakthrough" after the summit ended early on Friday.

Agencies via Xinhua