US President Donald Trump said Saturday that the island will seek a “deal” with Washington after the announcement of tariffs on countries that supply it with oil, and he expressed confidence that “it will be free again.”
He also added that Claudia Sheinbaum was “very good” because, he said, he asked her to have Mexico also stop sending crude oil to the island, and she agreed.
The Republican made these statements aboard Air Force One when the press questioned him about the words of Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, who warned that cutting off the supply of crude oil to Cuba would cause a humanitarian crisis.
“There doesn’t have to be a humanitarian crisis. I think they’ll probably come to us and want to make a deal. So Cuba will be free again. They’ll come to us and make a deal,” the president said.
“I think they’ll probably come to us and want to make a deal. So Cuba will be free again. They’ll come to us and make a deal,” the president said. The Republican emphasized that Cuba is in “a very bad situation” because “they were living off Venezuelan money and oil, but none of that is arriving” since the United States captured Nicolás Maduro on January 3.
Trump signed an executive order on Thursday imposing tariffs on countries that supply oil to the island.
The Cuban government called the measure “fascist,” which in practice amounts to an energy strangulation for the island, and Sheinbaum announced that Mexico will seek “different alternatives” to support the Cuban people.
