Cuba confirms first official talks with Trump administration

The Cuban government is in talks with Trump administration officials, the country’s president said Friday, as Havana struggles to halt possible regime change as it faces a deepening energy crisis.

In a 90-minute news conference broadcast by state media, Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel said negotiations with Washington were aimed at finding solutions to political differences that divide the communist island and the United States, the New York Times reported.

However, changes to the Cuban political system are prohibited, Lianys Torres Rivera, head of the Cuban mission to the United States, said in an interview with Politico.

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Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel smokes a cigar during a cigar humidor auction held as part of the closing ceremony of the XXV Habanos Festival in Havana, February 28, 2025. (Getty Images; AP Photo)

Cuba’s economy has been struggling since the United States captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro from his home in Caracas earlier this year. The Trump administration immediately halted oil exports to the island.

A number of key sectors on the island are under considerable pressure, including the transport, health and education systems, Torres Rivera said. She noted that up to 11,000 children are on waiting lists for surgeries and procedures at health clinics.

“They don’t have any money. They don’t have anything right now,” President Donald Trump said in February. “Maybe we will achieve a friendly takeover of Cuba.”

Trump said a deal with Havana “would be very easy to do.”

In January, Trump declared a national emergency via a decree on Cuba, accusing the communist regime of aligning itself with hostile foreign powers and terrorist groups.

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A woman holds a sign and Cuban flags as supporters of U.S. President Donald Trump take part in a protest against the Cuban government in Miami, February 28, 2026. (Marco Bello/Reuters)

Last week, he said Cuba was “negotiating with [Secretary of State] Mark [Rubio] and myself and a few others. And I think a deal would be very easy to reach with Cuba. »

Trump tasked Rubio, the son of Cuban immigrants and someone who actively advocated for regime change, to negotiate with Cuba.

Friday marked the first time the Cuban government officially recognized the talks with Washington.

During the negotiations, Rubio’s main counterpart has been Raúl Rodriguez Castro, the grandson of Raul Castro, the island’s de facto ruler and its former president.

Díaz-Canel said negotiations with the United States were necessary, in part, “to determine the willingness of both sides to take concrete steps,” the Times reported.

He added that he would soon host an FBI team to help investigate 10 Cubans living in the United States who were involved in a firefight with the Cuban Coast Guard last month.

A woman wearing a T-shirt with the United States flag sells Coquito on a street in Havana, March 13, 2026. (Yamil Lage/AFP via Getty Images)

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“Agendas are built, negotiations and conversations take place and agreements are reached. Things that we are still far from, because we are in the first phases of this process,” Díaz-Canel said.

Fox News Digital has contacted the White House.