U.S. threatens tariffs on any nation supplying Cuba with oil

U.S. President Donald Trump has warned of tariffs on countries supplying oil to Cuba on Thursday (29 January), as Washington ramps up pressure on the Caribbean nation.

The move, authorised by an executive order under a national emergency declaration, did not specify any tariff rates or identify countries whose products could face U.S. tariffs.

Cuba's state-run media shot back shortly after Trump's announcement, warning that the order threatened to paralyse electricity generation, agricultural production, water supply and health services on an island already suffering a crippling economic crisis.

Emboldened by the U.S. military's seizure of ousted Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in a deadly raid earlier this month, Trump has repeatedly spoken of acting against Cuba and pressuring its leadership.

Trump said this week that "Cuba will be failing pretty soon," adding that Venezuela, once the island's top oil supplier, has not recently sent oil or money to Cuba.

The U.S. president has previously urged Cuba to “make a deal, before it is too late,” though he has not outlined the terms of any agreement or the consequences Cuba could face if talks fail.

He has frequently used tariff threats as a foreign policy tool during his second term in office.

Cuba's President Miguel Díaz-Canel said this month that Washington had no moral authority to force a deal on Cuba after Trump suggested the island should strike an agreement with the U.S.

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Separately, Cuban foreign minister Bruno Rodriguez recently said that the Caribbean island nation had "the absolute right to import fuel" from any willing exporter "without interference or subordination to the unilateral coercive measures of the United States".

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