According to Maduro, Venezuela should respond to these sanctions by bolstering domestic production.
"We must create our own sources of wealth, ... increase the efficiency of PDVSA and boost oil production. After we have reached [daily production] of more than 1 million barrels, now we must set a big task of bringing the output by the year-end to 2 million barrels of oil, the wealth of Venezuela to be invested in health care, education, housing construction and food," Maduro said on Saturday.
On Tuesday, President Donald Trump signed an executive order blocking all Venezuelan government assets in the United States, including those belonging to the Bolivarian republic’s central bank and oil company PDVSA. The decree also authorizes sanctions against any foreign entities supporting Maduro.
Venezuela has long been suffering from a humanitarian and political crisis that intensified in January when, after disputing Maduro's re-election, US-backed opposition leader Juan Guaido illegally declared himself the country’s interim president. Maduro has called Guaido a US puppet and accused Washington of orchestrating a coup to force a change of government in Venezuela and claim the country's resources.