A pedicab drives past a traffic light that is out due to a power outage in Havana on March 4, 2026.
Yamil Lage | Afp | Getty Images
US President Donald Trump has renewed his threat of a “friendly takeover” of Cuba, saying the communist-run Caribbean island is in “deep trouble”.
His latest comments came a week after he suggested his administration would turn its sights on Havana once US military operations in Iran end.
The Trump administration has sought to increase pressure on Cuba following a Jan. 3 military operation to oust Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, a longtime ally of the Cuban government.
The US has effectively cut off Havana from Venezuela’s oil, calling its government an “extraordinary and extraordinary threat” and vowing to impose tariffs on any country that supplies it with oil.
Speaking at a news conference in Doral, Florida, Trump said Monday that Secretary of State Marco Rubio was dealing with Cuba’s leadership as the country grapples with a worsening economic crisis.
“It might be a friendly takeover. It might not be a friendly takeover. It doesn’t matter because they’ve gone down in smoke, as they say,” Trump said.
“They don’t have power, they don’t have money, they are in deep trouble on humanitarian grounds and we don’t want to see that,” he said.
The Cuban government has denied negotiating with the US government, although it has previously confirmed “communication” between the two administrations.
A spokeswoman for the Cuban embassy in London did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment.
The US president and his allies have spoken publicly about the prospect of Cuba becoming another major foreign policy issue.
“Cuba’s Next,” Sen. Lindsey Graham, RSC, said on Fox News shortly after the US and Israel launched attacks against Iran.
According to Politico, Trump previously said that after the overthrow of Iran’s regime, “Cuba will fall too.”
Experts told CNBC that the comments, along with US attacks on Iran and Venezuela, have done little to ease growing fears in Havana.
Cuba’s government recently adopted rationing measures to protect essential services and energy supplies to key sectors due to a series of blackouts and worsening fuel shortages.
The US Treasury said late last month it would allow the resale of Venezuelan oil to Cuba’s private sector.
(tags to translate)Havana
