Trump threatens tariffs on goods from countries that sell oil to Cuba | Trump tariffs

Donald Trump signed an executive order on Thursday establishing the basis for imposing customs duties on products from countries that supply oil to Cuba, the White House announced.

The order, which bolsters Trump’s push to overthrow the communist government, declares a national emergency and establishes a process for U.S. secretaries of State and Commerce to assess tariffs against countries that sell or supply oil to the island nation. The White House has not yet specified tariff rates for violations of its new policy of preventing Cuba from purchasing oil.

A White House statement cited Cuba’s ties to hostile powers to explain the new tariff policy, citing the Cuban government’s alleged ties to Russia, Hamas and Hezbollah.

“These actions pose an unusual and extraordinary threat to United States national security and foreign policy, requiring an immediate response to protect American citizens and interests,” the White House said.

Cuba is an import-dependent Caribbean island nation with a population of approximately 8 million whose GDP of $85 billion is similar to that of Rhode Island. Cuba’s Communist Party has ruled the country for six decades.

The Trump administration had been pressuring other countries to stop supplying oil to Cuba before Thursday’s tariff announcement. Trump argued for weeks with Mexican Claudia Sheinbaum over this issue.

Sheinbaum insisted that Mexico’s national oil company, Pemex, would continue to fulfill its contractual obligations with Havana and could offer oil for humanitarian reasons.

“Humanitarian aid will continue, as it does for other countries,” Sheinbaum said at a news conference earlier this week. “Mexico has always shown solidarity with the whole world. These are sovereign decisions.”

However, Sheinbaum acknowledged earlier this week that Mexican oil shipments had been temporarily halted.

Mexico has been a major oil supplier to Cuba, supplying 20,000 barrels per day for most of last year, according to NPR. This figure represents just under a third of the 70,000 daily barrels supplied by Venezuela last year, according to the Miami Herald. Cuba, however, would have resold a large part of its Venezuelan oil reserves.

Cuba has faced major economic pressure since U.S. forces arrested Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro and his wife in a surprise attack and took them to New York to face federal drug trafficking charges. Under American pressure, Cuba lost access to Venezuelan oil, its main supplier.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is the son of Cubans who emigrated from the island to Miami before the Cuban revolution that brought Fidel Castro to power in 1959 and a fierce opponent of the regime he founded.

Cuba had already rationed gasoline and imposed limited daily power cuts as it struggled with limited oil supplies. The island only has 15 to 20 days of oil in storage, according to a Financial Times report.

Tourist visits have plummeted in the face of the economic crisis and Trump’s open efforts to overthrow the communist government.

“Cuba is going to fail soon,” Trump told reporters earlier this week, adding: “They got their money from Venezuela. They got the oil from Venezuela. They’re not getting it anymore.”