US negotiating with Cuba's leadership to strike deal, says Trump

WASHINGTON, Feb 02 (AFP): US President Donald Trump said Sunday that Washington was negotiating with Havana's leadership to strike a deal, days after he threatened Cuba's reeling economy with a virtual oil blockade.

"Cuba is a failing nation. It has been for a long time, but now it doesn't have Venezuela to prop it up. So we're talking to the people from Cuba, the highest people in Cuba, to see what happens," Trump told reporters at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida.

"I think we're going to make a deal with Cuba." Trump gave no indication what such a deal might entail.

His second administration has been ratcheting up pressure on the communist-run island nation off south Florida since the January 3 US ouster of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro, whose country was a close ally of Havana and a crucial source for oil exports to Cuba.

On Thursday, the Republican president signed an executive order threatening to impose additional tariffs on countries that sell oil to Cuba. The following day, Cubans were queueing up in long lines at gas stations in Havana.

Mike Hammer, the US charge d'affaires to Cuba since 2024, said during a visit this weekend to Trinidad province in central Cuba that he encountered residents who "shouted some insults" at him.

"I think they belong to a certain party, but I know they do not represent the Cuban people, the ordinary Cubans," Hammer said in a video posted to X, in reference to the Cuban Communist Party.