Trump threatens to impose taxes on nations who provide Cuba with essential oil.

In the most recent step in Washington’s campaign of pressure on Havana, US President Donald Trump signed an executive order imposing hefty taxes on any nation that supplies oil to Cuba.  The Cuban government is described as a “unusual and extraordinary threat” to US national security in the order, which Trump signed on Thursday.

“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, Iran, Hamas and Hezbollah, Trump’s order states. “Under this system, an additional ad valorem 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,” it adds.

Trump has discussed taking action against Cuba on multiple occasions. Earlier this month, he stated that the Cuban leadership should “make a deal, before it is too late,” but he did not elaborate on the terms of the agreement or its implications.  

The US president’s warnings against Cuba follow a violent military night raid on Caracas earlier this month in which US commandos kidnapped Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his spouse. Since then, the US has effectively taken over Venezuela’s oil industry, and Trump has pledged to halt oil exports that were previously made to Cuba.

Just this week, Trump said that “Cuba will be failing pretty soon”, noting the lack of Venezuelan oil or revenue arriving in Havana. Cuba’s Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez quickly slammed Trump’s order, calling it a “brutal act of aggression” backed up by “a long list of lies intended to portray Cuba as a threat” to the US.

“We denounce before the world this brutal act of aggression against Cuba and its people, who for more than 65 years have been subjected to the longest and cruellest economic blockade ever imposed on an entire nation,” the minister said on social media. “Every day brings new evidence that the only threat to the peace, security, and stability of the region – and the only malign influence – is that exerted by” the US, he said.

Additionally, Trump’s executive action on Thursday coincides with US pressure on Mexico to cut ties with Cuba. Claudia Sheinbaum, the president of Mexico, announced last week that her government had at least temporarily halted oil shipments to Cuba, but she insisted that this was a “sovereign decision” independent of Washington pressure.

Most of Cuba’s oil comes from Mexico and Venezuela, but since the US kidnapped former President Maduro on January 3, Venezuelan crude has been cut off.  Up until last month, Mexico accounted for about 44% of Cuba’s oil imports, while Venezuela supplied 33%, according to The Financial Times. Additionally, about 10% comes from Russia, with a lesser portion coming from Algeria.