Washington DC - President Donald Trump signed an executive order protecting supposed US-held money derived from sales of Venezuelan oil after his administration violently overthrew Nicolas Maduro and took over the Latin American country,

In an order signed Friday, Trump – who has made clear the nakedly imperial goal of tapping Venezuela's vast oil reserves was a key goal in the US ouster of Maduro – is acting "to advance US foreign policy objectives," the White House said in a fact sheet accompanying the order.

The action follows Friday's White House meeting where Trump pressed top oil executives to invest in Venezuela, and was met with a cautious reception – with the chief executive of ExxonMobil describing the country as "uninvestable" without sweeping reforms.

Chevron is currently the only American firm licensed to operate in Venezuela, which has been institutionally crippled by brutal US sanctions.

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Trump's executive order signed Friday declares a national emergency "to safeguard Venezuelan oil revenue held in US Treasury accounts from attachment or judicial process," the White House fact sheet said.

In effect, it places those revenues under "protection" in order to prevent them from being seized by courts or creditors. The action is supposedly necessary for US national security and foreign policy.

"President Trump is preventing the seizure of Venezuelan oil revenue that could undermine critical U.S. efforts to ensure economic and political stability in Venezuela," the fact sheet said.

The executive order comes one week after US forces carried out an illegal assault on Caracas, killing over 100 people in a violent overthrow Maduro.