Trump threatens tariffs on countries selling oil to Cuba

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US President Donald Trump has threatened to impose tariffs on countries that supply oil to Cuba, as Washington steps up its pressure on the Caribbean nation.

The proposed new levies were outlined in an executive order, although no details were given on specific tariff rates or which countries could be targeted.

Trump has repeatedly threatened action against Cuba and its communist leadership.

On Tuesday, Trump said Cuba “will be falling pretty soon”, as long-time ally Venezuela no longer sends oil or money to the country after President Nicolás Maduro was seized by US forces on 3 January. Previously, the South American nation was believed to be sending about 35,000 barrels of oil a day to Cuba.

In an executive order on Thursday, Trump said “the policies, practices, and actions of the Government of Cuba constitute an unusual and extraordinary threat”.

He also accused Havana of hosting “dangerous adversaries of the United States”.

The tariffs may target countries “that directly or indirectly sells or otherwise provides any oil to Cuba”.

Trump has previously ordered Cuba to “make a deal, before it is too late”, although he has not specified the terms of a deal or the consequences that the island nation could face.

At the time, Cuba’s President Miguel Díaz-Canel said Washington had no moral authority to force a deal on his country.

The Trump administration’s tactic of confiscating sanctioned Venezuelan oil tankers has already begun to worsen a fuel and electricity crisis in Cuba.

The country has faced rolling blackouts, with Cubans struggling to cope without a reliable electricity supplies.

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”.

By BBC News