Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum warned that US President Donald Trump’s move to slap new tariffs on countries supplying oil to Cuba would trigger a humanitarian crisis in the Latin American nation
Mexico’s President
Claudia Sheinbaum warned that US President Donald Trump’s move to slap
new tariffs on countries supplying oil to Cuba would trigger a humanitarian crisis in the Latin American nation. Trump’s tariffs came at a time when Cuba is already suffering from chronic fuel shortages and regular blackouts.
On Thursday, Trump signed an executive order, declaring a national emergency and laying the groundwork for such tariffs, ratcheting up the pressure to topple the communist government in Havana. A White House statement after the announcement cited the
Cuban government’s alleged ties to Russia, Hamas and Hezbollah to explain the new tariffs.
While the statement did not name Mexico, it is worth noting that Sheinbaum’s government has been the top oil supplier to the island since 2025, surpassing Russia and
Venezuela. On Friday, the Mexican president said that her government would seek more information from the US State Department on the tariffs, while exploring alternative ways to provide humanitarian aid to the Cuban people.
“We will seek a way, without putting Mexico at risk, of course, but always seeking solidarity with the Cuban people,” she told reporters. For the longest time, Cuba has been struggling with increasingly severe blackouts. In her statement, Sheinbaum emphasised that tariffs could “directly affect hospitals, food supplies and other basic services for the Cuban people”.
Cuba is in a precarious situation
Meanwhile, Cuba’s president,
Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, said in a post on X that Trump sought to “suffocate” the island’s economy and that the tariffs revealed the “fascist, criminal, and genocidal nature of a clique that has hijacked the interests of the American people for purely personal gain”.
The island is receiving warnings from Trump right after the US captured and transported Nicolás Maduro, a key ally of the government, from Venezuela at the start of the year. A week later, Trump wrote in a Truth Social post: “THERE WILL BE NO MORE OIL OR MONEY GOING TO CUBA – ZERO!”
Soon after Trump signed the executive order, the Financial Times reported that Cuba only has enough oil to last 15 to 20 days at current levels of demand and domestic production, and could soon face sharp rationing. Sheinbaum’s comments also came after a week of increasing threats from Washington.
Meanwhile, Mike Hammer, the US chargé d’affaires in Havana, on Wednesday said: “The Cubans have complained for years about a ‘blockade’, but now there is going to be a real blockade.” The issue of oil shipments to Cuba is a fraught one for Sheinbaum, who is striving to show the Trump administration that Mexico is a partner on trade and security without alienating the left wing of her party, Morena.
With inputs from agencies.
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