Trump signs order to impose tariffs on countries selling oil to Cuba

The US State Department said the move was to protect US national security and foreign policy from the Cuban regime's malign actions and policies.

US President Donald Trump has signed an order to impose tariffs on goods from countries that sell or provide oil to Cuba, tightening curbs on the communist-run government he wants to see replaced.

US President Donald Trump signs an executive order in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, US. (Bloomberg)

The US State Department, in a statement, said the move was to protect US national security and foreign policy from the Cuban regime's malign actions and policies.

"The Order imposes a new tariff system that allows the United States to impose additional tariffs on imports from any country that directly or indirectly provides oil to Cuba," the state department statement said.

The order also authorizes the Secretary of State and Secretary of Commerce to take actions, including issuing rules and guidance, to implement the tariff system and related measures.

This order comes weeks after Trump gave a green light to a similar bill which would result in 500 percent tariffs on countries trading with Russia for il, petroleum and uranium.

As per the executive order, signed by Trump, US will first identify which countries provide Cuba with oil, and then decide what additional export duties should be imposed.

“The Government of Cuba has taken extraordinary actions that harm and threaten the United States. The regime aligns itself with — and provides support for — numerous hostile countries, transnational terrorist groups, and malign actors adverse to the United States,” Trump wrote in the order.

Mexico is set to come under fresh US pressure as it the main foreign supplier of oil to Cuba in recent years as Venezuelan shipments tumbled amid the South American nation’s economic crisis. Cuba is in the middle of its worst economic crisis in decades. Mexican president Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo said the US tariffs on countries helping Cuba could risk causing ‘humanitarian crisis’.

What US State Department order said

The US State Department said it is taking decisive action to hold the Cuban regime accountable for its support of hostile actors, terrorism, and regional instability that endanger American security and foreign policy.

It also accused Cuba of hosting Russia’s largest overseas signals intelligence facility and for providing safe haven for transnational terrorist groups, such as Hezbollah and Hamas.

Cuba responds

Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel criticised what he called an attempt by Trump to "suffocate" the island's flailing economy.

"Under a false and baseless pretext... President Trump intends to suffocate the Cuban economy by imposing tariffs on countries that sovereignly trade oil with Cuba," Diaz-Canel said in a post on X.

"This new measure reveals the fascist, criminal and genocidal nature of a clique that has hijacked the interests of the American people for purely personal ends," he added.