Cuba's remaining lifelines in peril as Trump widens US sanctions

Jim Wyss, Bloomberg News on May 2, 2026

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

Sweeping new U.S. economic sanctions on Cuba could chase international companies off the island as Donald Trump’s administration continues to threaten military force to dislodge the 67-year-old regime.

On Friday, Trump unveiled measures that would allow Washington to target almost any non-U.S. citizen or entity involved in business on the island. While specific targets are yet to be determined, the order says it will focus on defense, mining, finance and security.

The sanctions raise questions for companies including Turkey’s Karpowership — which runs an energy barge in Havana — and Canada’s Sherritt International, which mines for nickel and cobalt in Cuba, said William LeoGrande, a professor of government and a specialist in U.S.-Latin American relations at American University in Washington.

Also under the latest sanctions, financial institutions that have handled transactions with certain Cuban individuals and entities could be cut out of the U.S. banking system.

“These sanctions are incredibly, incredibly broad,” LeoGrande said, adding that he expects the Trump administration to eventually use the new economic weapon to “terrify” companies into quitting the island.

Karpowership and Sherritt didn’t respond to requests for comment outside of business hours.

Hours after publishing the sanctions, Trump teased a possible military intervention in Cuba in comments to an audience in Florida. In what appeared to be a joke, he said that when the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier returns from the war with Iran it could “stop about 100 yards offshore” Cuba “and they’ll say ‘Thank you very much, we give up.’”

“We will be taking over almost immediately,” Trump claimed.

Trump’s administration has imposed a near-total fuel blockade on the island since January as it presses for outright regime change. Cuba has said that, although the two sides are negotiating, its form of government and its leadership aren’t up for discussion.

On Saturday, Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel called the new U.S. military threats “dangerous and unprecedented.”

“The international community must take note and, together with the people of the United States, determine whether such a drastic criminal act will be allowed,” he wrote on X. “No aggressor, no matter how powerful, will force Cuba to surrender.”