Watch: “We want it back”: Trump demands Venezuela return “land and oil rights” to the United States

Under Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s predecessor, Hugo Chavez, the Venezuelan government seized the assets of some American oil companies after the country nationalized oil fields in 2007.

Watch Trump’s remarks in the video player above.

President Donald Trump on Wednesday criticized his predecessors in the White House for not responding to Venezuela earlier, and stated that his intention was to “get the territory, the oil rights, whatever we had” from the government in Caracas.

He watches: The White House says the Trump administration plans to “seize” oil from a tanker that took off off the coast of Venezuela

Speaking to reporters at Joint Base Andrews, Trump said: “They took it because we had a president who probably wasn’t watching. But they won’t do it again.”

“We want it back,” he added. “They took our oil rights – we had a lot of oil there. And, you know, they kicked out our companies, and we want them back.”