Cuba's President Slams Trump's Oil Tariffs as "Economic Strangulation"

In a series of posts on X, the Cuban President accused the Trump administration of consolidating a "dangerous way of conducting the country's foreign policy through the use of force" and attempting to dictate which nations can trade with Cuba.

He emphasised that Cuba would face the "new onslaught with firmness, equanimity, and confidence that reason is absolutely on our side."

"We condemn in the strongest terms the new escalation by the United States government against Cuba in its determination to impose an absolute blockade on fuel supplies to our country. The Trump administration is consolidating a dangerous way of conducting the country's foreign policy through the use of force and of exercising its ambitions to ensure imperialist hegemony. As announced, that country claims the right to dictate to sovereign States which nations they may trade with and to which they may export their national products," Diaz-Canel stated in his post.

"The decision is one: Homeland or Death! We shall overcome!" the Cuban President added.

Earlier on Thursday, US President Donald Trump signed an executive order warning of fresh tariffs against countries supplying oil to Cuba, stepping up economic pressure on the communist island nation.

According to the order issued by the White House, "An additional ad valorem (estimated value) duty may be imposed on imports of goods that are products of a foreign country that directly or indirectly sells or otherwise provides any oil to Cuba."

Issued under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, the directive labels the Cuban government an "extraordinary threat" to US national security, alleging that "the regime aligns itself with and provides support for numerous hostile countries, transnational terrorist groups, and malign actors adverse to the United States," including Russia, China and Iran, along with Hamas and Hezbollah.

In a separate post, Diaz-Canel stated that the move by the Trump administration "clearly demonstrates the fascist, criminal, and genocidal nature of a clique" which had exploited the interests of the American people for the US President and his administration's personal gains.

Diaz-Canel criticised Trump for acting under a "mendacious and empty pretext" to harm Cuba's economy, saying, "President Trump seeks to strangle the Cuban economy by imposing tariffs on countries that sovereignly trade oil with Cuba."

Earlier on January 11, Trump, in a post on Truth Social, stated, "THERE WILL BE NO MORE OIL OR MONEY GOING TO CUBA - ZERO! I strongly suggest they make a deal BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE," in a move hardening his stance toward Havana.

"Cuba lived, for many years, on large amounts of OIL and MONEY from Venezuela," the post added.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has described the government in Havana as a "huge problem", while Trump publicly suggested that Rubio could one day lead Cuba, stating that the prospect "sounds good" to him.

Relations between Havana and Washington remain deeply strained, despite a brief thaw in 2014 that Trump reversed during his first term by reimposing sanctions and banning cruise ships in 2019.

According to Al Jazeera, Cuba is facing its worst economic crisis since 1959, driven by fuel shortages, power cuts, and disruptions to food and water supplies.

- ANI