U.S Seizes World's Largest Oil Reserves; 'Major Shocks’ To Hit Markets | Lior Gantz
Summary
Market Volatility: The guest expects heightened volatility as U.S. policy becomes more assertive, creating intermittent shocks despite bull-market conditions.
Energy Security: U.S. control over Venezuelan oil flows could reshape global oil trade, pressure prices near term, and necessitate equilibrium to keep American producers viable.
Precious Metals: Silver gains a risk premium from industrial demand and supply constraints, while gold benefits from de-globalization and a shift toward domestic U.S. monetary priorities.
Commodities Supercycle: A multi-year bull case is outlined for commodities driven by supply tightness, global renegotiation of resources, and new demand from the U.S. and India.
US Infrastructure: Large-scale rebuilding of roads, bridges, airports, and legacy systems is seen as a major driver of minerals demand, especially copper and silver.
De-Globalization: Rewiring supply chains and potential U.S.-China decoupling via tariffs and policy shifts are core to the thesis, impacting trade flows and resource access.
Rates Outlook: A dovish pivot with rapid rate cuts by a new Fed chair is anticipated, supportive for metals and risk assets but likely to trigger market shock events.
Regional Opportunities: Africa is highlighted for long-term growth potential if governance improves, while Europe is viewed as a structural decliner.
Transcript
We are in a bull market, but not in an in an indefinite bull market. The market is just not really ready for the pace of what's happening in this era. The the stock market is going to be more volatile. We're entering a a whole new world. Literally a whole new world. So, anything that you thought is not on the table, not politically correct, not this, not that, it's over. Though those rules are over, those thinking uh processes are over. Are we about to see a major paradigm shift for commodities, especially energy, now that uh president of Venezuela, Maduro, was captured by the Trump administration? We'll find out what's next with Leor Gance, founder of Wealth Research Group, a free financial newsletter. Welcome back to the show, Leor. Good to see you. >> Thank you. >> Take a look at this story. Venezuela will ship sanctioned oil to the US indefinitely, sources say. President Donald Trump said Venezuela will turn over 30 million to 50 million barrels of sanctioned oil which will be sold at market prices. But those 50 million barrels are only the first tranch in shipments uh and they will continue indefinitely. That money will be controlled by me as president of the United States of America to ensure it is used to benefit the people of Venezuela and the United States. Now, a couple things are about to happen. one if the US receives a lot more oil by the order of 50 million barrels uh regularly I I don't I don't know exactly like what the interval would would be but that would basically make first of all oil a lot cheaper for the US but also China which is so far the largest importer in the world of Venezuelan oil and of course Russia depend on this as well, but to to a lesser extent. But I'll let you comment on what I've just read and your immediate reaction to what's going on right now. >> The US administration is taking back control of American sovereignty within the borders of the United States and in the Western Hemisphere. Um, effectively this is a process that started in 2008 and uh the American people already had a chance in 2008 to elect a Trump-like president, a president that wants to uh make basically make America great again after very failed years both with um the the dot bubble bursting and then you had a subprime mortgage crisis that resulted um in the preceding years and you had failed uh wars in Afghanistan and and Iraq. So, they had a chance to say, "Okay, we've gone astray. We we did uh as a country many mistakes. We need a president that uh effectively has the mandate to make America great again." They chose to go in a whole different route. And for the next 8 years, they went that route. when they uh chose a president that wants to assert uh sovereignty again and believes that America is a special nation um he had a lot of problems executing his vision because of um the opposition. The opposition is not just China, Russia um and and other countries. The opposition is also within his own country from um politicians that are much more subscribed to the idea of globalism. Uh just like in Europe they're subscribed to that idea of globalism. And I think that that changed with this administration. This administration had a very wide mandate to pursue um the [clears throat] ideas that are in the new uh world order. In the new world order, I call it the capable nations world order. And in that order, uh, countries that are strong, capable, and believe that their system is superior try to assert their um [clears throat] uh their benefits on other countries where this is not the case. Venezuela was a dictatorship where uh Chinese loans were funding the government as well as oil uh purchases from Cuba. From those uh funds, uh the Maduro regime bought Russian weapons that was supplied on the American uh western hemisphere trained by [clears throat] military uh personnel from Iran and Iranian proxies and the obviously the uh not only the threat to the United States with drugs and terrorism, but the threat that uh Venezuela will uh invade neighboring Gana um and destabilize uh Latin America and allow uh China and and um Russia to to do the same thing in other regions um of Latin America and Central America was becoming a real threat. All of that was done away with one fell swoop. One uh operation that changes the not only that but many other things. This uh was black and white in the national security strategy, a 33 page report by the Trump administration saying this is coming. We are reasserting the Monroe Doctrine, the James Monroe doctrine, but in the Don Row um version of it. And the idea is that in the Western Hemisphere, there's only one boss and that is the United States of America. And it's not toppling over regimes. It's not putting puppet presidents. Instead, it's not nation building. It's not any of that. What it is doing is making sure that its neighbors are behaving. And wherever there's a neighbor that doesn't behave, what what the Trump administration really seeks to do is to show the people of that country that if they allow American influence in that country, it will be to their benefit. And what you're seeing with that headline is effectively part of that doctrine that hey if you allow us to come in there we will make sure that you benefit much more because uh David one thing that's happening under Maduro and before that Chavez is that oil that oil riches do not get to the people and uh because it's such a failed system only 6 to 7% of that oil is even um produced most of it doesn't get produced because they they don't have any operators that have modernized that system in 30 40 years. >> Okay. >> So, you're seeing a real failed system. >> Well, [laughter] what do you think is going to happen to the oil price in the US? Um I think the oil price initially might still come down but uh Trump is a common sense person and in the price that it's uh at right now it is uh very low already and a lot of the American producers are already telling Trump that uh this is where they start to break even. So I think that uh the the price is not going a lot lower. Uh it's probably going lower in the near term just because of uh market dynamics. But um over the long term, I I I think it's it's it's pretty much bottomed. >> And that's the thing. Yes, Trump wants oil to go a lot low lower so inflation could be a lot more under control, should we say. But at the same time, American oil industries uh well, the industry at large and oil companies are not going to be happy about this if let's say the entire market gets flooded and the spot price goes down dramatically. And these are the companies backing Trump and supporting this. So I I there has to be an equilibrium. >> Exactly. So it's true. And that's why effectively your your your question should be should we trust that the Trump administration would know how to handle this? Effectively in the big picture what it's just happened is now the US controls the biggest reserves of oil in the world. As you said, China was buying 60 to 90% of of unsanctioned um uh of sanctioned uh uh Venezuelan uh oil and that means that uh there's a new framework as to how it will get sold. Trump wants to sell that oil to China. He wants to and he will. He will create a new business plan with China. What he wants to do is to make sure that China understands that in the Western Hemisphere there is no Chinese influence anymore. This is not the only country that's going to go through uh this sort of uh experiment uh and experience. Uh not in all countries will they will the uh um dictator get arrested and brought to justice in the United States and go to trial. But the idea is clear. If I if China wants to invade Taiwan and uh build uh AI sensors and run their own economy, then they need to look elsewhere for oil. And when they start to look elsewhere for oil and create new deals and new uh agreements that the United States will also be there to negotiate with that country and with that supplier and the idea is uh that that supplier will choose whichever country is better for him. Um, and that's uh really the story that Trump is trying to bring to the forefront that if you allow us to control that flow of oil, the Venezuelan people will enjoy this much better, they will choose uh a president that um allows that system to flourish and uh organically they will become better neighbors of the United States. >> Before we continue with the video, let's talk about today's sponsor, Monetary Metals. You already know why people hold gold. because it's real money. But what if your gold could do more than just sit in a vault? Well, that's where Monetary Metals comes in. They offer a way for you to earn a yield on your gold paid in physical gold. Through their leasing marketplace, you can earn up to 4% yield per year in gold. Instead of paying storage fees, your gold works for you. And because that yield is paid in gold, not cash, your stack grows no matter what the dollar does. Thousands of clients already earn a monthly yield in gold through monetary medals. So don't just hold it, put it to work. Go to monetary-methals.com/lin link down below or scan the QR code here to learn more and start earning real gold on your gold today. Apparently during the course of Maduro's administration, especially in the early days, Venezuela transported gold worth almost 4.14 billion Swiss Franks to Switzerland and 113 metric tons of gold. there were no gold exports from Venezuela to Switzerland from 2017. Badur was seized uh on January 3rd. Uh on Monday, Switzerland ordered the freezing of assets held in the country by Baduro and 36 associates, but did not give any information on possible value or source of such funds. The point is they are very rich in precious metals especially gold uh among other commodities as well. Oil, precious metals. What will happen to the uh precious metals landscape after the seizing of Venezuelan assets by the US? Anything will change you think, Lear? >> I don't think that will really impact the price um uh on a global uh scale. I think that uh in general you have uh two uh very important themes that are happening in the world. Silver and gold separately. Let's talk let's unpack. Silver has been demonetized by governments and therefore one of the biggest buyers of it in the last 40 years has gone away. There's no central banks or governments buying silver. The price of it become became so cheap that that slowly mines start to make it the byproduct and not the primary metal coming out of the ground. Then because the price was cheap and abundant uh uh with the supply of it after the fall of the Soviet Union, it became so cheap and so abundant that industrial uses started to uh be discovered for it because it's such it's the it's the best conductor of electricity in the world. So you had a demonetized precious metal becoming a very uh diversified and very popular uh industrial metal. And because of that uh what you're seeing right now is that uh industrial companies are saying okay if China can restrict exports and if China can now call and threaten or pressure or negotiate with other nations to also do that and restrict other imports to the west be it of uh silver or silver mines or not allow silver companies from the west to enter their country and buy silver assets then the price just had a rerating of a major risk premium to it and that's what you're seeing with silver. It's it's really special because it's 50% industrial and therefore uh industrial companies are really bidding up the price. The real gamecher will come if one government starts to remonetize it and introduce it to their vaults. That will really send its price a lot higher because then it will reassert the premium that it has as a precious metal. right now it's it's getting a a risk premium as an industrial metal. Um at some point obviously uh as the price goes higher uh CFOs of companies uh that that use silver will start to look at other ways of of uh sourcing uh conductor metals and um and the price will will start to stabilize. But we're in a very good bull market right now. Gold different story. Gold is 100% almost a precious metal. And what we're doing right now is we are coming out of the post uh Soviet Union world of hyper globalization of non-friction between governments almost no relevance to sovereign borders. Um and and that world is is done. And in the capable nations world, the US dollar cannot be this currency that circulates between countries because you have a about a fourth or or a quarter of the world's countries under some sort of a sanctions from the United States. Therefore, uh the use of the US dollar is coming down. The US dollar is becoming much more of a national currency than an international currency. You will see that coming to fruition big time with the new Fed chair who will be much more um in unison with the Treasury and what the Treasury uh will um uh think is is important uh will also play out in Fed policy. In other words, the the ruse or the hoax that this that the Fed is this managerial uh elite banking class of people that are untouched by politics and they know better than the Treasury and the American people and everything else and they're they need to be independent. That idea is over. Um and you will see uh unity. You will see cooperation between the Fed and the Treasury. Um and I think you will see that the US dollar works for first of all for the American people and not for global commerce. So the US dollar can fluctuate in interest rates when other countries are doing uh the opposite. Um, you probably saw David a few days ago where Trump introduced favored nations to drug prices meaning that he he scanned the globe and wherever a drug price was lowered in the United States, the drug companies promise to lower and match that price to the US and he negotiated with other countries where they raise would raise their prices to make sure that the pharma company will be made whole. I think that same logic applies to interest rates in his mind. He is saying we are the number one economy, the biggest economy, the most robust and sophisticated. We have the best military etc etc. We should pay when we finance our debt the lowest interest rates. And therefore I think a bombshell that's coming later this year is the the new Fed chair is going to announce that that is his strategy. His strategy is to come down hard on interest rates fast and uh that will be a real shock. He will say it in advance many times, but the market will not believe it. Just like the market did not believe liberation day. Uh even though Trump said a million times, April 2nd is liberation day. I'm going to introduce tariffs. I'm going to introduce tariffs. Everybody could have started to forecast. Wall Street analysts could have called the White House, called the Treasury. Everything could have done in advance. yet on April 2nd the market just went down so hard like in co because they couldn't believe that he will actually do it. So I think that will that the big shock of this year will be the new Fed chair and how he um rethinks the idea of interest rates and of Fed independence. So uh when you talk about gold silver a little bit different between them but both of them in a bull market uh that um I think will continue this year. So you're saying that the Fed will surprise on the more dovish side. Okay. What will be the impact on markets then if no one's pricing that in right now? >> Um well uh first of all shock. So I think 2026 will be a lot like 2025 where you have a lot of alltime highs but uh in the middle two major three major like shock events that can happen. And that is very important to keep in mind, David. Obama effectively and Biden and and it's not it's not that I'm picking on Democrats or anything like that. And it's the same in Europe and other places. After 2008, the role of of duly elective governments faded. The role of central banks of global uh organizations, the world or the world economic forum, etc. became more important than uh governments. It's shifting back to governments. Government policy can do a lot more than the central banks. The central banks can uh take interest rates up and down. They can do QE or not. Um and obviously once they got all that power, they they lowered rates to zero, which uh if if they had any government oversight, they would not be able to do that. Um or or or a lot of push back from governments. We are now getting that back. Governments will matter a lot. tax policy, fiscal policy, uh moratoriums on um on selling your real estate like uh no no capital gains tax if you sell your real estate in the next year. Creating all these incentives, all these tax-free zones. The idea is to get back to growing um through smart government with the private sector. And I think that uh the market is just not really ready for the pace of what's happening. And that's why I think that when this will start to get talked about uh they will think that it's going to be a slow process. I think it will be an impactful process and therefore you will see this year a lot of these uh many corrections and maybe one big one uh just like you saw in 2024, I'm sorry, 2025. And um that's important to keep in mind uh that in this era the the stock market is going to be more volatile. If you have a president that is willing to call the heads of Thailand and Cambodia every time they fire a few shots and tell them you are going on a 100% tariffs until you stop it it it's a different type of world. But when he can do 150% tariffs on China, on China and just decouple the two nations, decoupling the two nations until they come to the table, that is a very different type of um world that we live in. And I think when when you when you were able to at the middle of the night just uh use uh uh the most sophisticated military equipment, shut down the electricity in a country, black it out, take its its uh president and and uh send him to United States. That is something you just don't see. So you need to calculate that in. This is volatile for the stock market and it will continue to be volatile. So, um I think that's how it affects markets. It affects markets in a lot of volatility. Take a look at my screen. I'm going to show you the copper price. So, copper did peak uh a couple days ago, new all-time highs. And similar story could be made with silver, but ever since the Venezuela development, which was uh recently, well, actually uh Maduro was seized on the 3rd of January, which is here. Copper spiked and then now it's rolling over. Same thing with silver. We're seeing uh silver reach $83 just yesterday, >> rolling over today and both metals going down. I think today there's a major sell-off in uh gold as well went down 1%, Bitcoin's down 2%. So, it's not just exclusive to silver and copper. My point is right now, how do we know as investors whether or not these metals have already peaked? Any signs we can look for? >> Uh uh peaked for the year. What do you mean >> pee forever? >> I mean, just just speak for >> Yeah. If it's the end of the morning, >> should we sell? Yeah. Right. >> Yeah. Um Well, last time I was on your show, you asked the same question. I I said don't sell. Um I I think the same [laughter] Yes. I think the same holds true today because um there's there's basically no end to uh in sight to the idea of uh rebuilding the entire supply chain um in the world. That's one thing. So uh just every country is now thinking what do I have to offer other countries uh in terms of resources and in terms of knowledge and data and everything else because I will want something from them as well. We are rebuilding all of the global agreements. Okay, that's really important because it means that if a country has uh uh resources and reserves, they will tell the the purchaser, well, can you bring your soldiers to train us on drone technology? Can we buy drone technology from you? Can you pick up the phone and help us buy military equipment for this from this country? Everything is getting renegotiated and and therefore you hold your cards close to your chest. That is a bull market for commodities. Secondly, and this is the big one, and this is what I think will continue to drive copper prices higher, silver prices higher and other commodities, we are now rebuilding the United States of America. Uh, effectively most of the roads, bridges, infrastructure, airports, etc. If you fly now to China or the Emirates and and you see where they they live in the future compared to you in North America, it's insane. So all these all of this legacy infrastructure from the 60s and 70s will need to be rebuilt rebuilt for the new era and that is a lot of um consumption a lot of consumption of minerals. We have not seen that in the west. And then you you couple that with supply. Supply came from the disintegration of the Soviet Union. You had a petrol station with abundant resources giving it to the entire world. You did it's that's over. And thirdly, you have a newcomer. You don't just have China and the United States. Now you have India. It's a giant country with big exp aspirations that is looking to industrialize. These three factors tell you that commodities are going to continue to go higher. Um obviously what we saw with silver is a rerating. So you should not expect another move like that. That is a one-time rerating of the uh restrictions. But I think that uh you should expect silver to continue to do very well. Uh same with gold, copper. Um I mean we already have 50% tariffs of copper. So you already know this is very important for the Trump administration. Um and for uh other countries as well. uh there is no golden arrow without copper wiring. Um and so yes, I think all of this uh is very important. On the flip side, on the flip side, let me play the devil advocate for a second. You had uh about 15 years now where US administrations favored a snail running on his little trail in the woods over national security. So, if somebody was about to build a mine over a forest, they would tell them to put cameras for a year to look at deers and decide whether or not these deers would would be uh uh impacted negatively if you build a giant copper mine there. Uh I think that era is over and therefore supply will come online, but it will take uh uh years. So, we are in a bull market, but not in an in an indefinite bull market. We're definitely uh gonna this cycle is going to peak. there's there will be uh supply and demand will will meet at some point etc etc. This is no different than anything else. It's just the pace of it is uh extraordinary. >> Which jurisdiction around the world do you think have uh has the most promising mining potential uh in terms of growth? >> I would I I would say um countries that are smart in the western hemisphere have insane potential because the US will make them rich. Um so that's one thing I think that countries in Africa that allow um the entrance of uh either the US or countries that are responsible uh within the African continent that that will um choose to uh become uh more uh industrialized, bring the rule of law into their country, bring stable currencies etc. They will learn from the west. They will they will bring people from the west to teach them how to uh change their their systems. They have big potential. There's 54 African nations, very young demographics. Um the the sky's is the limit for the African continent. Um so that's secondly. Um and I think uh effectively if if Europe doesn't change, uh Europe is going to be uh the biggest decliner of the 21st century. that continent is just um I don't know like there's nothing I can I can say that uh that's positive right now about Western Europe. I do think that uh if uh Trump ends up buying Greenland then that that also has insane potential. >> Does he actually is he actually serious? I mean Steven Miller uh of the Homeland Security Department did they he said the US has the right to take Greenland. Trump did say he's not going to use military force. This was months back when people thought they were joking. The Danish government was literally laughing when he made this announcement first time. I don't think they're laughing now. Uh I think the Europeans are taking this a little bit more seriously, especially after what happened in Venezuela. But do you think he's serious about this? >> Yes, it will happen. >> Okay, full stop. It it look f first of all his entire okay the biggest thing to understand about Trump is his game theory is whatever he says happens that that is his entire world view is based on whatever he says will happen he is going to make it happen there is no uh uh promises just for the promises it's promises made promises kept that is literally the slogan secondly greenland has nothing to do with Europe. If you look at the history, the modern history of Greenland, it was already being negotiated with the United States back in the 1800s. They already wanted it, the US did, and they were very close to buying it for very foolish reasons. They did not. Um uh [clears throat] Denmark cannot uh secure Greenland. In other words, if if the Danish uh government continues to um uh think that the that that Greenland will be theirs if Trump doesn't pursue this, then they they simply are very uh naive about the fact that the uh Russian uh submarines are already roaming those waters. Chinese uh bases are already um uh looking to be built there. If it's not the US, it's China and Russia. So you tell me uh what you prefer as a as an American or as a Canadian or as as a person that lives in the free world. Uh it's either that or that. Uh so it's coming. So it is coming. Uh and the again the model is that the the that the whatever 100,000 people that live there or 45,000 people whatever will benefit from this. This is will not be a uh uh we're coming in to wreck things up and uh uh colonialize the region. Not at all. Sure. This is my final question and this sparks a debate as to whether or not we are in a renewed age of imperialism especially in the west and this may spark interest from other countries other major powers to do the same. If the US going to take Greenland, well, Russia already tried to take Ukraine. What's stopping, you know, China and Russia from trying to take other things, right? >> And that is exactly the point. Nothing stopped them before and nothing stops stops them now. >> Well, the US stops them. No, >> exactly. Okay. Yes, we were saying the same thing. Uh uh nothing stops anyone any one of these countries from doing anything. um they are just they're bigger than their neighbors and uh it's basically their own decision whether or not to do it and then it's a matter of execution. Um Russia thought that they would take Ukraine in 3 days. It's been 4 years, right? So it's a matter of decision and execution. What what changes is how the US deals with these countries. that is the only um opposing force to the continued spread of other ideas in the world. There is one country where there is one country in human history that has defeated the British Empire by military means have asserted their own independence, created a bill of rights and declaration of independence in a constitution for their citizens and for 250 years have uh built a country based on that built the biggest literally the biggest military the biggest uh economy in the world. other competing ideas, fascism, communism. Um, you have the CCP with this idea of top- down government, uh, quasi uh, communism, quasi something else, world government, which you saw in the last 30 years coming from, uh, Brussels and and, uh, these think tanks in the in the West uh, with Soros and Schwab, etc. All these ideas are basically antagonizing ideas to the idea that that men are born free. They have a they have a constitution that protects them and they have a government works for them. That is the idea that's special to the United States. And what Trump is saying is if if we allow these other countries to continue and these other ideas to continue infiltrating us both from academia and deep state from within and from the outside, then we will lose our preeminence. And that's it. And what he's saying and you can that is really what you can agree with or not is that we are special. Our way of life is special. Our uh doctrine is special and therefore we should be able to assert this power because we're doing it for the better of the world. If we had uh um failing or um idiots to to run our country, we use that power wrong. And that's why uh sometimes we are hated. We are despised. Sometimes our own people uh uh uh distrust us and and distrust in government is is the biggest in the west right now that it's ever been. But if we do it right and we execute it right, there is no difference between uh a good corporation and a good government. They they are working on the behalf of their uh clients, customers, citizens etc. So that is uh uh the truth. nothing is stopping anybody from doing anything, especially uh in the world that we uh currently live in. And I and I think that 2026 is going to be the wildest year you've ever seen in your lifetime and perhaps in the last 150 years. It is going to be insane. Insane. Um and and and that's important to understand. We are literally breaking apart what we've seen in the last 30 years and in the last 80 years with the Bretonwood system and we're we're entering a a whole new world literally a whole new world. So uh anything that you thought is not on the table, not politically correct, not this, not that, it's over. Though those rules are over, those thinking uh processes are over. We are doing what makes sense. Um and in the case of the United States, it it's what makes uh sense for America first. So think in those lines. Um and and and you will start to to really understand that if if he's saying Greenland is coming, it's coming. >> Let's see what happens. Thank you for your time today, Leer. Uh we'll we'll we'll keep tabs on this development when have you on next time. Where can we follow you in the meantime? >> Wealthressearchgroup.com is the website. If you go on the homepage, you can literally subscribe to our uh newsletter for free. Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday, on the dot, uh three newsletters a week, what you just heard here. Uh even if you disagreed with 99% of it, if if you liked it, if you loved it, that's what's coming on on the newsletter. Um and um uh it it's obviously in 5 minutees, not in uh uh interview format. I put together three special reports for your interview for your viewers exclusively that you can download. One is my outlook for silver for 2026 wealthresarch.com/2026s silver. Uh two about the the divergence that's coming that's that's going to shock you as well David between the EU and the United States. Um and a lot is a lot more is coming in on that front. wealthresarch.com/eu. And the third one I think will be will be interested for certainly for Americans is about the golden dome. Um that is going to be amazing. Uh it's going to be one of the biggest projects in human history. Elon's going to come back for this and and a lot of other things. It's going to help Canada as well. Um so um maybe that that'll interest you as well. It's at wealthresarch.com/dome. And I think again uh it's coming just like Greenland. It's not the promise. It's coming. >> Thanks very much. That was Lear Gance, founder of Wealth Research Group. Don't forget to like and subscribe and follow Leer. Links down below. We'll see you next time.
U.S Seizes World's Largest Oil Reserves; 'Major Shocks’ To Hit Markets | Lior Gantz
Summary
Transcript
We are in a bull market, but not in an in an indefinite bull market. The market is just not really ready for the pace of what's happening in this era. The the stock market is going to be more volatile. We're entering a a whole new world. Literally a whole new world. So, anything that you thought is not on the table, not politically correct, not this, not that, it's over. Though those rules are over, those thinking uh processes are over. Are we about to see a major paradigm shift for commodities, especially energy, now that uh president of Venezuela, Maduro, was captured by the Trump administration? We'll find out what's next with Leor Gance, founder of Wealth Research Group, a free financial newsletter. Welcome back to the show, Leor. Good to see you. >> Thank you. >> Take a look at this story. Venezuela will ship sanctioned oil to the US indefinitely, sources say. President Donald Trump said Venezuela will turn over 30 million to 50 million barrels of sanctioned oil which will be sold at market prices. But those 50 million barrels are only the first tranch in shipments uh and they will continue indefinitely. That money will be controlled by me as president of the United States of America to ensure it is used to benefit the people of Venezuela and the United States. Now, a couple things are about to happen. one if the US receives a lot more oil by the order of 50 million barrels uh regularly I I don't I don't know exactly like what the interval would would be but that would basically make first of all oil a lot cheaper for the US but also China which is so far the largest importer in the world of Venezuelan oil and of course Russia depend on this as well, but to to a lesser extent. But I'll let you comment on what I've just read and your immediate reaction to what's going on right now. >> The US administration is taking back control of American sovereignty within the borders of the United States and in the Western Hemisphere. Um, effectively this is a process that started in 2008 and uh the American people already had a chance in 2008 to elect a Trump-like president, a president that wants to uh make basically make America great again after very failed years both with um the the dot bubble bursting and then you had a subprime mortgage crisis that resulted um in the preceding years and you had failed uh wars in Afghanistan and and Iraq. So, they had a chance to say, "Okay, we've gone astray. We we did uh as a country many mistakes. We need a president that uh effectively has the mandate to make America great again." They chose to go in a whole different route. And for the next 8 years, they went that route. when they uh chose a president that wants to assert uh sovereignty again and believes that America is a special nation um he had a lot of problems executing his vision because of um the opposition. The opposition is not just China, Russia um and and other countries. The opposition is also within his own country from um politicians that are much more subscribed to the idea of globalism. Uh just like in Europe they're subscribed to that idea of globalism. And I think that that changed with this administration. This administration had a very wide mandate to pursue um the [clears throat] ideas that are in the new uh world order. In the new world order, I call it the capable nations world order. And in that order, uh, countries that are strong, capable, and believe that their system is superior try to assert their um [clears throat] uh their benefits on other countries where this is not the case. Venezuela was a dictatorship where uh Chinese loans were funding the government as well as oil uh purchases from Cuba. From those uh funds, uh the Maduro regime bought Russian weapons that was supplied on the American uh western hemisphere trained by [clears throat] military uh personnel from Iran and Iranian proxies and the obviously the uh not only the threat to the United States with drugs and terrorism, but the threat that uh Venezuela will uh invade neighboring Gana um and destabilize uh Latin America and allow uh China and and um Russia to to do the same thing in other regions um of Latin America and Central America was becoming a real threat. All of that was done away with one fell swoop. One uh operation that changes the not only that but many other things. This uh was black and white in the national security strategy, a 33 page report by the Trump administration saying this is coming. We are reasserting the Monroe Doctrine, the James Monroe doctrine, but in the Don Row um version of it. And the idea is that in the Western Hemisphere, there's only one boss and that is the United States of America. And it's not toppling over regimes. It's not putting puppet presidents. Instead, it's not nation building. It's not any of that. What it is doing is making sure that its neighbors are behaving. And wherever there's a neighbor that doesn't behave, what what the Trump administration really seeks to do is to show the people of that country that if they allow American influence in that country, it will be to their benefit. And what you're seeing with that headline is effectively part of that doctrine that hey if you allow us to come in there we will make sure that you benefit much more because uh David one thing that's happening under Maduro and before that Chavez is that oil that oil riches do not get to the people and uh because it's such a failed system only 6 to 7% of that oil is even um produced most of it doesn't get produced because they they don't have any operators that have modernized that system in 30 40 years. >> Okay. >> So, you're seeing a real failed system. >> Well, [laughter] what do you think is going to happen to the oil price in the US? Um I think the oil price initially might still come down but uh Trump is a common sense person and in the price that it's uh at right now it is uh very low already and a lot of the American producers are already telling Trump that uh this is where they start to break even. So I think that uh the the price is not going a lot lower. Uh it's probably going lower in the near term just because of uh market dynamics. But um over the long term, I I I think it's it's it's pretty much bottomed. >> And that's the thing. Yes, Trump wants oil to go a lot low lower so inflation could be a lot more under control, should we say. But at the same time, American oil industries uh well, the industry at large and oil companies are not going to be happy about this if let's say the entire market gets flooded and the spot price goes down dramatically. And these are the companies backing Trump and supporting this. So I I there has to be an equilibrium. >> Exactly. So it's true. And that's why effectively your your your question should be should we trust that the Trump administration would know how to handle this? Effectively in the big picture what it's just happened is now the US controls the biggest reserves of oil in the world. As you said, China was buying 60 to 90% of of unsanctioned um uh of sanctioned uh uh Venezuelan uh oil and that means that uh there's a new framework as to how it will get sold. Trump wants to sell that oil to China. He wants to and he will. He will create a new business plan with China. What he wants to do is to make sure that China understands that in the Western Hemisphere there is no Chinese influence anymore. This is not the only country that's going to go through uh this sort of uh experiment uh and experience. Uh not in all countries will they will the uh um dictator get arrested and brought to justice in the United States and go to trial. But the idea is clear. If I if China wants to invade Taiwan and uh build uh AI sensors and run their own economy, then they need to look elsewhere for oil. And when they start to look elsewhere for oil and create new deals and new uh agreements that the United States will also be there to negotiate with that country and with that supplier and the idea is uh that that supplier will choose whichever country is better for him. Um, and that's uh really the story that Trump is trying to bring to the forefront that if you allow us to control that flow of oil, the Venezuelan people will enjoy this much better, they will choose uh a president that um allows that system to flourish and uh organically they will become better neighbors of the United States. >> Before we continue with the video, let's talk about today's sponsor, Monetary Metals. You already know why people hold gold. because it's real money. But what if your gold could do more than just sit in a vault? Well, that's where Monetary Metals comes in. They offer a way for you to earn a yield on your gold paid in physical gold. Through their leasing marketplace, you can earn up to 4% yield per year in gold. Instead of paying storage fees, your gold works for you. And because that yield is paid in gold, not cash, your stack grows no matter what the dollar does. Thousands of clients already earn a monthly yield in gold through monetary medals. So don't just hold it, put it to work. Go to monetary-methals.com/lin link down below or scan the QR code here to learn more and start earning real gold on your gold today. Apparently during the course of Maduro's administration, especially in the early days, Venezuela transported gold worth almost 4.14 billion Swiss Franks to Switzerland and 113 metric tons of gold. there were no gold exports from Venezuela to Switzerland from 2017. Badur was seized uh on January 3rd. Uh on Monday, Switzerland ordered the freezing of assets held in the country by Baduro and 36 associates, but did not give any information on possible value or source of such funds. The point is they are very rich in precious metals especially gold uh among other commodities as well. Oil, precious metals. What will happen to the uh precious metals landscape after the seizing of Venezuelan assets by the US? Anything will change you think, Lear? >> I don't think that will really impact the price um uh on a global uh scale. I think that uh in general you have uh two uh very important themes that are happening in the world. Silver and gold separately. Let's talk let's unpack. Silver has been demonetized by governments and therefore one of the biggest buyers of it in the last 40 years has gone away. There's no central banks or governments buying silver. The price of it become became so cheap that that slowly mines start to make it the byproduct and not the primary metal coming out of the ground. Then because the price was cheap and abundant uh uh with the supply of it after the fall of the Soviet Union, it became so cheap and so abundant that industrial uses started to uh be discovered for it because it's such it's the it's the best conductor of electricity in the world. So you had a demonetized precious metal becoming a very uh diversified and very popular uh industrial metal. And because of that uh what you're seeing right now is that uh industrial companies are saying okay if China can restrict exports and if China can now call and threaten or pressure or negotiate with other nations to also do that and restrict other imports to the west be it of uh silver or silver mines or not allow silver companies from the west to enter their country and buy silver assets then the price just had a rerating of a major risk premium to it and that's what you're seeing with silver. It's it's really special because it's 50% industrial and therefore uh industrial companies are really bidding up the price. The real gamecher will come if one government starts to remonetize it and introduce it to their vaults. That will really send its price a lot higher because then it will reassert the premium that it has as a precious metal. right now it's it's getting a a risk premium as an industrial metal. Um at some point obviously uh as the price goes higher uh CFOs of companies uh that that use silver will start to look at other ways of of uh sourcing uh conductor metals and um and the price will will start to stabilize. But we're in a very good bull market right now. Gold different story. Gold is 100% almost a precious metal. And what we're doing right now is we are coming out of the post uh Soviet Union world of hyper globalization of non-friction between governments almost no relevance to sovereign borders. Um and and that world is is done. And in the capable nations world, the US dollar cannot be this currency that circulates between countries because you have a about a fourth or or a quarter of the world's countries under some sort of a sanctions from the United States. Therefore, uh the use of the US dollar is coming down. The US dollar is becoming much more of a national currency than an international currency. You will see that coming to fruition big time with the new Fed chair who will be much more um in unison with the Treasury and what the Treasury uh will um uh think is is important uh will also play out in Fed policy. In other words, the the ruse or the hoax that this that the Fed is this managerial uh elite banking class of people that are untouched by politics and they know better than the Treasury and the American people and everything else and they're they need to be independent. That idea is over. Um and you will see uh unity. You will see cooperation between the Fed and the Treasury. Um and I think you will see that the US dollar works for first of all for the American people and not for global commerce. So the US dollar can fluctuate in interest rates when other countries are doing uh the opposite. Um, you probably saw David a few days ago where Trump introduced favored nations to drug prices meaning that he he scanned the globe and wherever a drug price was lowered in the United States, the drug companies promise to lower and match that price to the US and he negotiated with other countries where they raise would raise their prices to make sure that the pharma company will be made whole. I think that same logic applies to interest rates in his mind. He is saying we are the number one economy, the biggest economy, the most robust and sophisticated. We have the best military etc etc. We should pay when we finance our debt the lowest interest rates. And therefore I think a bombshell that's coming later this year is the the new Fed chair is going to announce that that is his strategy. His strategy is to come down hard on interest rates fast and uh that will be a real shock. He will say it in advance many times, but the market will not believe it. Just like the market did not believe liberation day. Uh even though Trump said a million times, April 2nd is liberation day. I'm going to introduce tariffs. I'm going to introduce tariffs. Everybody could have started to forecast. Wall Street analysts could have called the White House, called the Treasury. Everything could have done in advance. yet on April 2nd the market just went down so hard like in co because they couldn't believe that he will actually do it. So I think that will that the big shock of this year will be the new Fed chair and how he um rethinks the idea of interest rates and of Fed independence. So uh when you talk about gold silver a little bit different between them but both of them in a bull market uh that um I think will continue this year. So you're saying that the Fed will surprise on the more dovish side. Okay. What will be the impact on markets then if no one's pricing that in right now? >> Um well uh first of all shock. So I think 2026 will be a lot like 2025 where you have a lot of alltime highs but uh in the middle two major three major like shock events that can happen. And that is very important to keep in mind, David. Obama effectively and Biden and and it's not it's not that I'm picking on Democrats or anything like that. And it's the same in Europe and other places. After 2008, the role of of duly elective governments faded. The role of central banks of global uh organizations, the world or the world economic forum, etc. became more important than uh governments. It's shifting back to governments. Government policy can do a lot more than the central banks. The central banks can uh take interest rates up and down. They can do QE or not. Um and obviously once they got all that power, they they lowered rates to zero, which uh if if they had any government oversight, they would not be able to do that. Um or or or a lot of push back from governments. We are now getting that back. Governments will matter a lot. tax policy, fiscal policy, uh moratoriums on um on selling your real estate like uh no no capital gains tax if you sell your real estate in the next year. Creating all these incentives, all these tax-free zones. The idea is to get back to growing um through smart government with the private sector. And I think that uh the market is just not really ready for the pace of what's happening. And that's why I think that when this will start to get talked about uh they will think that it's going to be a slow process. I think it will be an impactful process and therefore you will see this year a lot of these uh many corrections and maybe one big one uh just like you saw in 2024, I'm sorry, 2025. And um that's important to keep in mind uh that in this era the the stock market is going to be more volatile. If you have a president that is willing to call the heads of Thailand and Cambodia every time they fire a few shots and tell them you are going on a 100% tariffs until you stop it it it's a different type of world. But when he can do 150% tariffs on China, on China and just decouple the two nations, decoupling the two nations until they come to the table, that is a very different type of um world that we live in. And I think when when you when you were able to at the middle of the night just uh use uh uh the most sophisticated military equipment, shut down the electricity in a country, black it out, take its its uh president and and uh send him to United States. That is something you just don't see. So you need to calculate that in. This is volatile for the stock market and it will continue to be volatile. So, um I think that's how it affects markets. It affects markets in a lot of volatility. Take a look at my screen. I'm going to show you the copper price. So, copper did peak uh a couple days ago, new all-time highs. And similar story could be made with silver, but ever since the Venezuela development, which was uh recently, well, actually uh Maduro was seized on the 3rd of January, which is here. Copper spiked and then now it's rolling over. Same thing with silver. We're seeing uh silver reach $83 just yesterday, >> rolling over today and both metals going down. I think today there's a major sell-off in uh gold as well went down 1%, Bitcoin's down 2%. So, it's not just exclusive to silver and copper. My point is right now, how do we know as investors whether or not these metals have already peaked? Any signs we can look for? >> Uh uh peaked for the year. What do you mean >> pee forever? >> I mean, just just speak for >> Yeah. If it's the end of the morning, >> should we sell? Yeah. Right. >> Yeah. Um Well, last time I was on your show, you asked the same question. I I said don't sell. Um I I think the same [laughter] Yes. I think the same holds true today because um there's there's basically no end to uh in sight to the idea of uh rebuilding the entire supply chain um in the world. That's one thing. So uh just every country is now thinking what do I have to offer other countries uh in terms of resources and in terms of knowledge and data and everything else because I will want something from them as well. We are rebuilding all of the global agreements. Okay, that's really important because it means that if a country has uh uh resources and reserves, they will tell the the purchaser, well, can you bring your soldiers to train us on drone technology? Can we buy drone technology from you? Can you pick up the phone and help us buy military equipment for this from this country? Everything is getting renegotiated and and therefore you hold your cards close to your chest. That is a bull market for commodities. Secondly, and this is the big one, and this is what I think will continue to drive copper prices higher, silver prices higher and other commodities, we are now rebuilding the United States of America. Uh, effectively most of the roads, bridges, infrastructure, airports, etc. If you fly now to China or the Emirates and and you see where they they live in the future compared to you in North America, it's insane. So all these all of this legacy infrastructure from the 60s and 70s will need to be rebuilt rebuilt for the new era and that is a lot of um consumption a lot of consumption of minerals. We have not seen that in the west. And then you you couple that with supply. Supply came from the disintegration of the Soviet Union. You had a petrol station with abundant resources giving it to the entire world. You did it's that's over. And thirdly, you have a newcomer. You don't just have China and the United States. Now you have India. It's a giant country with big exp aspirations that is looking to industrialize. These three factors tell you that commodities are going to continue to go higher. Um obviously what we saw with silver is a rerating. So you should not expect another move like that. That is a one-time rerating of the uh restrictions. But I think that uh you should expect silver to continue to do very well. Uh same with gold, copper. Um I mean we already have 50% tariffs of copper. So you already know this is very important for the Trump administration. Um and for uh other countries as well. uh there is no golden arrow without copper wiring. Um and so yes, I think all of this uh is very important. On the flip side, on the flip side, let me play the devil advocate for a second. You had uh about 15 years now where US administrations favored a snail running on his little trail in the woods over national security. So, if somebody was about to build a mine over a forest, they would tell them to put cameras for a year to look at deers and decide whether or not these deers would would be uh uh impacted negatively if you build a giant copper mine there. Uh I think that era is over and therefore supply will come online, but it will take uh uh years. So, we are in a bull market, but not in an in an indefinite bull market. We're definitely uh gonna this cycle is going to peak. there's there will be uh supply and demand will will meet at some point etc etc. This is no different than anything else. It's just the pace of it is uh extraordinary. >> Which jurisdiction around the world do you think have uh has the most promising mining potential uh in terms of growth? >> I would I I would say um countries that are smart in the western hemisphere have insane potential because the US will make them rich. Um so that's one thing I think that countries in Africa that allow um the entrance of uh either the US or countries that are responsible uh within the African continent that that will um choose to uh become uh more uh industrialized, bring the rule of law into their country, bring stable currencies etc. They will learn from the west. They will they will bring people from the west to teach them how to uh change their their systems. They have big potential. There's 54 African nations, very young demographics. Um the the sky's is the limit for the African continent. Um so that's secondly. Um and I think uh effectively if if Europe doesn't change, uh Europe is going to be uh the biggest decliner of the 21st century. that continent is just um I don't know like there's nothing I can I can say that uh that's positive right now about Western Europe. I do think that uh if uh Trump ends up buying Greenland then that that also has insane potential. >> Does he actually is he actually serious? I mean Steven Miller uh of the Homeland Security Department did they he said the US has the right to take Greenland. Trump did say he's not going to use military force. This was months back when people thought they were joking. The Danish government was literally laughing when he made this announcement first time. I don't think they're laughing now. Uh I think the Europeans are taking this a little bit more seriously, especially after what happened in Venezuela. But do you think he's serious about this? >> Yes, it will happen. >> Okay, full stop. It it look f first of all his entire okay the biggest thing to understand about Trump is his game theory is whatever he says happens that that is his entire world view is based on whatever he says will happen he is going to make it happen there is no uh uh promises just for the promises it's promises made promises kept that is literally the slogan secondly greenland has nothing to do with Europe. If you look at the history, the modern history of Greenland, it was already being negotiated with the United States back in the 1800s. They already wanted it, the US did, and they were very close to buying it for very foolish reasons. They did not. Um uh [clears throat] Denmark cannot uh secure Greenland. In other words, if if the Danish uh government continues to um uh think that the that that Greenland will be theirs if Trump doesn't pursue this, then they they simply are very uh naive about the fact that the uh Russian uh submarines are already roaming those waters. Chinese uh bases are already um uh looking to be built there. If it's not the US, it's China and Russia. So you tell me uh what you prefer as a as an American or as a Canadian or as as a person that lives in the free world. Uh it's either that or that. Uh so it's coming. So it is coming. Uh and the again the model is that the the that the whatever 100,000 people that live there or 45,000 people whatever will benefit from this. This is will not be a uh uh we're coming in to wreck things up and uh uh colonialize the region. Not at all. Sure. This is my final question and this sparks a debate as to whether or not we are in a renewed age of imperialism especially in the west and this may spark interest from other countries other major powers to do the same. If the US going to take Greenland, well, Russia already tried to take Ukraine. What's stopping, you know, China and Russia from trying to take other things, right? >> And that is exactly the point. Nothing stopped them before and nothing stops stops them now. >> Well, the US stops them. No, >> exactly. Okay. Yes, we were saying the same thing. Uh uh nothing stops anyone any one of these countries from doing anything. um they are just they're bigger than their neighbors and uh it's basically their own decision whether or not to do it and then it's a matter of execution. Um Russia thought that they would take Ukraine in 3 days. It's been 4 years, right? So it's a matter of decision and execution. What what changes is how the US deals with these countries. that is the only um opposing force to the continued spread of other ideas in the world. There is one country where there is one country in human history that has defeated the British Empire by military means have asserted their own independence, created a bill of rights and declaration of independence in a constitution for their citizens and for 250 years have uh built a country based on that built the biggest literally the biggest military the biggest uh economy in the world. other competing ideas, fascism, communism. Um, you have the CCP with this idea of top- down government, uh, quasi uh, communism, quasi something else, world government, which you saw in the last 30 years coming from, uh, Brussels and and, uh, these think tanks in the in the West uh, with Soros and Schwab, etc. All these ideas are basically antagonizing ideas to the idea that that men are born free. They have a they have a constitution that protects them and they have a government works for them. That is the idea that's special to the United States. And what Trump is saying is if if we allow these other countries to continue and these other ideas to continue infiltrating us both from academia and deep state from within and from the outside, then we will lose our preeminence. And that's it. And what he's saying and you can that is really what you can agree with or not is that we are special. Our way of life is special. Our uh doctrine is special and therefore we should be able to assert this power because we're doing it for the better of the world. If we had uh um failing or um idiots to to run our country, we use that power wrong. And that's why uh sometimes we are hated. We are despised. Sometimes our own people uh uh uh distrust us and and distrust in government is is the biggest in the west right now that it's ever been. But if we do it right and we execute it right, there is no difference between uh a good corporation and a good government. They they are working on the behalf of their uh clients, customers, citizens etc. So that is uh uh the truth. nothing is stopping anybody from doing anything, especially uh in the world that we uh currently live in. And I and I think that 2026 is going to be the wildest year you've ever seen in your lifetime and perhaps in the last 150 years. It is going to be insane. Insane. Um and and and that's important to understand. We are literally breaking apart what we've seen in the last 30 years and in the last 80 years with the Bretonwood system and we're we're entering a a whole new world literally a whole new world. So uh anything that you thought is not on the table, not politically correct, not this, not that, it's over. Though those rules are over, those thinking uh processes are over. We are doing what makes sense. Um and in the case of the United States, it it's what makes uh sense for America first. So think in those lines. Um and and and you will start to to really understand that if if he's saying Greenland is coming, it's coming. >> Let's see what happens. Thank you for your time today, Leer. Uh we'll we'll we'll keep tabs on this development when have you on next time. Where can we follow you in the meantime? >> Wealthressearchgroup.com is the website. If you go on the homepage, you can literally subscribe to our uh newsletter for free. Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday, on the dot, uh three newsletters a week, what you just heard here. Uh even if you disagreed with 99% of it, if if you liked it, if you loved it, that's what's coming on on the newsletter. Um and um uh it it's obviously in 5 minutees, not in uh uh interview format. I put together three special reports for your interview for your viewers exclusively that you can download. One is my outlook for silver for 2026 wealthresarch.com/2026s silver. Uh two about the the divergence that's coming that's that's going to shock you as well David between the EU and the United States. Um and a lot is a lot more is coming in on that front. wealthresarch.com/eu. And the third one I think will be will be interested for certainly for Americans is about the golden dome. Um that is going to be amazing. Uh it's going to be one of the biggest projects in human history. Elon's going to come back for this and and a lot of other things. It's going to help Canada as well. Um so um maybe that that'll interest you as well. It's at wealthresarch.com/dome. And I think again uh it's coming just like Greenland. It's not the promise. It's coming. >> Thanks very much. That was Lear Gance, founder of Wealth Research Group. Don't forget to like and subscribe and follow Leer. Links down below. We'll see you next time.