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(REUTERS) – U.S. President Donald Trump threatened new tariffs late on Thursday on countries supplying oil to Cuba, escalating a pressure campaign against the Communist-run island and long-time foe of the United States.
The move, authorized by an executive order under a national emergency declaration, stopped short of specifying tariff rates or singling out any countries.
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Trump said the measure was necessary to protect “U.S. national security and foreign policy from the Cuban regime’s malign actions and policies.”
Cuba’s president Miguel Diaz-Canel shot back on Friday morning, calling Trump’s arguments unfounded.
“This new measure demonstrates the fascist, criminal and genocidal nature of a cabal that has hijacked the interests of the American people for purely personal gain,” Diaz-Canel said.
Cuba’s state-run media on Thursday evening warned the order would paralyze electricity generation, agricultural production, water supply and health services on an island already suffering a crippling economic crisis.
“All spheres of life will be suffocated by the U.S. government,” Cuba’s government said in a statement on the nightly TV newscast.
Emboldened by the U.S. military’s seizure of ousted Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in a raid earlier this month, Trump has repeatedly talked of acting against Cuba and pressuring its leadership.
Trump said this week that “Cuba will be failing pretty soon,” adding that Venezuela, once the island’s top oil supplier, has not recently sent oil or money to Cuba.
Reuters exclusively reported last week that Mexico – Cuba’s top supplier after Venezuela cut off shipments in December – was also reviewing whether to continue sending oil amid growing fears it could face reprisals from the United States over the policy.
Cuba’s foreign minister, Bruno Rodriguez, called Trump’s threat of tariffs a violation of international law.
“The U.S. resorts to blackmail and coercion to try to get other countries to join its universally condemned blockade policy against Cuba, threatening them with the imposition of arbitrary and abusive tariffs if they refuse, in violation of all free trade rules,” Rodriguez said.
Trump has used tariff threats as a foreign policy tool throughout his second term in office.
