The United States will impose tariffs on goods from countries that sell oil to Cuba

Washington.- The president of the United States, Donald Trump, stated this Thursday that «Cuba will not be able to survive», after ordering the imposition of tariffs on countries that sell oil to the island.

"It seems it won't survive. Cuba won't survive," the president declared to the press during the presentation of the documentary by the first lady American, Melania Trump. The president was questioned about whether he is trying to "drown" Cuba, to which he replied that this word is "very harsh", but he assured that the Caribbean country is "a failed nation". "You have to feel bad for Cuba because they have treated people very badly. We have many Cuban Americans who were treated very badly and would like to return," he declared.

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Sanctions on Cuba

Trump made these statements hours after signing an executive order to impose tariffs on countries that supply oil to Cuba, in an attempt to exacerbate the crisis on the island, which was already worsened by the cut in the shipment of Venezuelan crude after the overthrow of Nicolás Maduro. The U.S. President, Donald Trump, signed an executive order this Thursday establishing that the United States may impose tariffs on goods from countries that sell or provide oil to Cuba.  «I consider that the situation with respect to Cuba constitutes an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the U.S., and I hereby declare a national emergency with respect to that threat», argued the president in the executive order. According to the measure, to deal with this situation it is "necessary" to establish a tariff system, under which an additional levy may be imposed on imports of products from foreign countries that, "directly or indirectly", sell or supply crude oil to Cuba.

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In the order, the official assures that the Cuban government has taken measures that "harm and threaten" the United States, and that it aligns with "transnational terrorist groups and actors adverse to the North American country, including Russia, China, Iran, Hamas and Hezbollah. Furthermore, it underlines that Cuba "persecutes and tortures its political opponents, denies the Cuban people freedom of expression and of the press, corruptly takes advantage of their misery and commits other human rights violations".

A Country in Crisis

According to the order, the U.S. Secretary of Commerce, Howard Lutnick, will determine whether a country sells or supplies oil to Cuba, and subsequently the Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, will decide whether to impose and to what extent an additional levy on the products of that nation. Trump has previously maintained that the Cuban government's days are numbered since the United States' attack on Venezuela on November 3rd, which resulted in the capture of Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, who now face drug trafficking charges in New York.

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Washington believes that the end of crude oil shipments from Venezuela to the island will provoke a regime change in Cuba, a country affected by a serious economic and social crisis.