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This is the Bloomberg Dabaker Podcast. Good morning, It's Monday, the twenty second of December in London. I'm Caroline Hepgar gunboat diplomacy. The US pursues a third tanker off the coast of Venezuela, aiming to throttle Maduro's oil revenues. Productive and constructive. The US and Ukraine praise weekend talks in Florida despite no obvious breakthrough on ending Russia's war, plus a new direction uber Lift and by Do joined forces to test driverless cars in London. Let's start with a
roundup of our top stories. The US Coast Guard is chasing down a third oil tanker as President Trump's blockade of the country ramps up. The tanker, called Bella one, is being pursued off the coast of Venezuela after the US also sees a different, non sanctioned vessel over the weekend. Bloomberg's East America editor Tony Chuchka says the US is clearly trying to damage Venezuela's economy.
Over the weekend. This kind of noose that the US that the Trump administration is trying to tighten economically around the government of Nicolas Madua and Venezuela has been tightening. At the same time, the government has not been very forthcoming, sort of come out in dribs and drabs, But the overall purpose is very clear, which is essentially a deprived Venezuela of its main revenue, which is oil exports.
Jujka ads that Venezuela's oil exports have dwindled over the years and now account for less than one percent of global demand. Even so, the Trump administration's military deployment in the Caribbean is the largest in the region in decades. Mexico and Brazil are among the many Latin American countries warning against the foreign intervention, saying that it risks armed conflict. The heightened geopolitical tensions are helping to drive gold to
yet another record high. The prescious metal has climbed one and a half percent to surpass its October record as traders bet on uncertainty as well as further US interest rate cards. The games put gold on track for its best annual performance since nineteen seventy nine. The US and Ukraine have held constructive talks in Florida, thus according to US Special Envoice Steve Whitcoff, who said that White House officials joined meetings with Ukrainian and European counterparts as part
of ongoing efforts to end the war. Speaking ahead of the negotiations, US sexty of stage Marker, Rubio described his country's participation in the peace efforts.
We're trying to figure out what can Russia give and what do they expect to get. Where can Ukraine beive and what can Ukraine expect to get. In the end, the decision will be up to Ukraine and up to Russia, will not be up to the United States. So that's the role we are trying to play in this.
US sectory of say Marco Rubio. Speaking in a post on social media platform x, the Special Envoy Steve Witkoff said that discussions included Donald Trump's son in law Jared Kushner, top Ukrainian negotiator rustam Umuov, and other security advisors. Ukrainian President Voladimir Zelinski also described negotiations as constructive, but noted that signals from Russia remain quote only negative. Kremlin envoy Kiril Dimitriev said that separate talks between Russia and US
officials are quote proceeding constructively. Justice Apartment officials were right to remove several images from the Epstein files before they were released, including one of President Donald Trump. This according to Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, an image of a desk draw with photos, including one showing the future president, was removed and then later restored after the Justice Apartment
determined that it did not depict any Epstein victim. Speaking to NBC, Blanche, a former personal attorney for Trump, said the decision came as a result of court ordered mandates.
The statute also requires us to protect victims, and so the reason why we are still reviewing documents and still continuing our process is simply that to protect victims. So the same individuals that are out there complaining about the lack of documents that were produced on Friday are the same individuals who apparently don't want us to protect victims.
Yes, STA Attorney General Todd Blanche, speaking to NBC's Meet the Press. The redactions prompted criticism from lawmakers, with some accusing the administration of violating the Epstein Files Transparency Act and shielding President Donald Trump, which Blanche denied. Now Uber and lift A teaming up with the Chinese tech giant
Baidu to trial driverless taxi in London. The two companies have announced a pilot program which we'll start in the first half of next year, with commercial services soon to follow. Our reporter James Walcock has more it's.
The core staple of any London taxi drive, a conversation with the driver, whether you want it or not, but it might be on the way out by do an. Uber will start testing out robotaxis next year on the streets of London. They're not the only ones. Text firms are racing to build data sets for drivers cars where May have already started testing in London, and Lived will also follow next year. Exciting technology aside, it's not yet clear how the companies will make profits from the ventures
in London. James Worcock Woomberg Radio.
A private actually consortium led by Permera and Warburg Pinkus, has agreed to acquire clear Water Analytics. The deal would value the investment and accounting software maker at eight point four billion dollars including debt. That's according to a statement from the firm. Also included in the buy our group are Singaporean state investment company Tamasek and the technology investment
firm Francisco Partners. The transaction is expected to close in the first half of twenty twenty six, and it will allow clear Water to consider rival offers until late January. That's in corporate news this morning. Let's get to the market. It's MSCIASH Pacific index is up by nine tenths of one percent this morning. Bit mixed when it comes to futures high for the US. For US SOX swifty futures,
we are down two tenths of one percent. Thinking about gold, four hundred dollars is where we sit this morning, up by one point four percent, so we've powered through the October record high four billion, which had such a strong year. The uncertainties in Venezuela mean that oil prices are up more than one percent for break Crew futures sixty one
dollars thirteen the bowl this morning. And then just lastly, in terms of ten year US at treasury yields right now, they're upper couple of basis points out of four sixteen. So those are the markets. In a moment. We're going to get into the US actions against Venezuela, this oil blockade, and also what happened over the weekend in these various negotiations over Ukraine in Florida. But before that, another story
has caught my eye this morning. An unexpected fantastic bottle of booze is always welcome around the holidays, this at least according to Bloomberg's Kara Newman. She has a last minute list of wine and whiskey for you indulgent, alcoholic or not, because, as I discovered to my surprise on Sunday going to some actual physical stores in London, last
minute panic shopping pre Christmas is definitely not dead. So relax into the festive season with a few of my favorites from this list, including Second Sip, which is a low alcohol gin twenty percent proof apparently, and why don't you blow the doors off with the nineteen ninety nine Paul Voge couve Winston Churchill at a mere twenty pounds for a magnum. I love the fact that Colin Newman has described all of these wonderful festive treats, and I'm going to put a link to it in our show note.
But of course we aren't ready to put up our feet just yet, glass in hand. No, no, We've got to get into our top stories today. Now, the United States has intensified an oil blockade off the coast of Venezuela, boarding or pursuing three oil tankers in total. Joining me now is Blomberg's Asia Energy editor, Stephen Stepchinski. Good to speak to you, Stephen. Can you just describe the US's maritime maneuvers against Venezuela so far?
You know, it's been really fascinating watching this unfold. So earlier this month, the Trump administration seesed a US sanctioned oil tanker that was carrying about two million barrels of oil and from Venezuela, and that was shortly followed by the Trump administration saying that they're going to be having a blockade effectively on all sanctioned oil exports from Venezuela. And so I think there was an expectation that you folks were like, Okay, well, if it's a US sanctioned vessel,
you're in trouble. If you're not sanctioned by the US, you know, you could take your risk, you know, you can go there, but maybe the US won't seize the vessel. They won't board do they won't have the authority to do that. Well, that's not the case. They boarded a second vessel over the weekend, and this one was not sanctioned by the US. It was carrying crude from Venezuela that the US has is sanctioned. The cargo itself is sanctioned, So that was reason enough for them to board the vessel.
And then now they're pursuing a third vessel that's not even carrying any crude. It is going to Venezuela, is nearing there. The vessels is viewed to be part of the shadow Fleet and part of the network that ships Venezuela oil elsewhere, like to buyers in China. But it does that if you're if you're a shipper, if you own a ship, if you're operating in this sector, you're
really gonna think twice before you go to Venezuela. And if the shadow fleet starts to break down, if Venezuela can't get the ships there to export their crude, well then they're in a lot of trouble.
So what is person Chump's aim I mean? Is it maximum pressure? Is it war? Is it regime changed? Because we know that the US is labeled the Maduro government a drug trafficking cartel, a foreign terrorist organization.
You know, I think it's a bit of all the above, right, I mean, clearly it's it is a maximum pressure approach. They are they are really trying to hit on the economy of Venezuela and tighten that as much as they possibly we can, because without oil exports, they're just not making any money anywhere else. There's there's risks of an economic collapse if this continues. The second thing, obviously, it
does seem to be regime change. The Trump administration has been very clear that that they think that Venezuela is part of drug problem in the United States, the legal immigrant problem in the United States. They've they've labeled them all sorts of different things, and Trump has said that, you know, attacks on the ground aren't outside of the
realm of possibility. So with all of that put together, it does look like the Trump administration wants a regime change, and they're they're kind of pulling every lever they can. Right before, we saw them pulling the levers by by kind of striking those the drug the ships that were carrying that they said were carrying drugs or or or
members of the cartel. Now you're looking at them hit ships of course, uh with by boarding them and harassing them, They're they're looking at hitting another aspect of their economy.
Yeah, and so then your view on how this affects oil markets and what impact it's having in the oil markets, you know, I.
Think this is very interesting because this does have to do with oil, and markets are reacting to a degree. But this is far has far, far wider impact on Venezuela than it does on the global oil market. China, the US, other buyers don't need Venezuelan oil, right. Venezuela produces exports about less than one percent of global supply. The global oil market is actually in a bit of an oversupply itself. It's going to get worse at glut
is going to get worse. In twenty twenty six, we have oil price at the lowest level in more than four years. All of that together means that there isn't going to be any impact on inflation. There's going to be no impact on the price of oil at the pump, which is something that Trump really cares about, which also might speak to the timing of all of this as well.
Trump knew that if they were to take venezuela and oil off the market, it wouldn't see a huge price bike that you would see maybe in twenty twenty two in the height of the energy crisis.
Indeed, Stephen, thank you for speaking to me about this. Stephen sepchinskis Boomberg's Asia Energy editor. Stay with us. More from Bloomberg daybakeuope coming up after this. Ukraine held these three days of talks with the US in Florida over a possible piece deal, while Russia's Voikiril Dmitriev held some separate talks with US officials. Joining US now is Tony Happen,
who heads our team covering Russia's economy and government. Tony, Hello, does Ukraine do you think have a strong and negotiating position given that last week we were focused on the EU loan akreement it was done that deal. Does that strengthen Ukraine's hand?
Well, I mean they certainly didn't want to go into these talks and future talks. In fact, without the protection of that loan, Ukraine faced a very real risk by April of simply running out of money, not be able to fund the government or its own defense. And the risk they were really aware of was that Russia would take this as a signal that its allies were backing away from Ukraine and was simply run down the clock knowing that every month that passed would make it more
and more difficult for Kiv. So yes, without that loan, the negotiating position would have been a good deal. Weaker with it. Of course, they can enter the talks knowing that they still have the back of their European allies.
Is Russia's position moving? You were reporting on Friday Vlatimir Putin saying that it was incorrect to say that Russia completely rejected something. This was in that long to Q and a that Putin does every year.
Yeah, So he gave a news conference that lasted some four and a half hours on Friday, and in it, as you say, he did say that Russia is interested in peace and hasn't rejected anything. But they come from two very different starting points here. Putin's starting point is the Anchorage summit with Donald Trump in August in Alaska, where he said that they reached pretty much agreed positions.
We don't really know fully what those positions were, but since then of course, we've had the twenty eight point plan that the US and Russia drew up, which has been chiseled down to the existing twenty point plan, and there are still elements of that plan that Russia doesn't like. So I think it's very difficult to say that Russia's moved because Putin has a different vision of how this war should end. But certainly there's still a lot to discuss.
What about the war itself, Ukraine continues to be attacked whilst Ukraine has also itself intensified attacks on tankers tied to Russia's oil trade.
Yes, when the war is going on every day, there's no Christmas or New Year ceasefire on the horizon. Ukraine sees a sawce point for Russia in its oil infrastructure. It sees that as a weakness that it can attack to some effect. It believes that by attacking things like oil refineries, oil platforms, tankers, that they can damage Russia's ability to get revenues from oil and gas cells and therefore weaken the Kremlin's war machine over the long term.
And they're having some success in that, but at the same time they're having to defend against constant Russian attacks both from the air against cities and on the ground on the battleground, which continues to be a hot one.
This is Bloomberg Daybreak Europe. You're morning brief on this stories making news from London to Wall Street and beyond.
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