When asked by the Times if it would be three months, six months, a year or longer, Trump said: “I would say much longer”.

“We will rebuild it in a very profitable way,” Trump said of Venezuela, adding, “we’re going to be using oil, and we’re going to be taking oil”.

“We’re getting oil prices down, and we’re going to be giving money to Venezuela, which they desperately need,” he added.

Trump added the US was “getting along very well” with the interim president Delcy Rodriguez’s government in Venezuela right now, according to the Times.

Trump on Tuesday unveiled a plan to refine and sell up to 50 million barrels of Venezuelan oil that had been stuck in Venezuela under US blockade, in a further sign that Washington is coordinating with the Venezuelan government since capturing President Nicolas Maduro in a raid last weekend.

“They’re giving us everything that we feel is necessary,” Trump said, referring to the Venezuelan government.