Donald Trump's 'no more oil or money' threat to Cuba is actually a warning to China? Details here

Donald Trump and Cuba officials on Sunday heat of words as a larger message is being sent to the world's second largest economy -- China. U.S. President ‍Donald Trump on Sunday suggested ​Cuba should strike a deal with Washington, warning that ⁠the island nation would no longer receive oil or money from Venezuela. Cuba's Foreign Minister Bruno ⁠Rodriguez retorted saying that the country did not ‌received ‌compensation for security services ‌provided to any other country, according to a post on X ​on ​Sunday.

Cuba's Foreign Minister added that ‌the ‍Cuba has ‍the right to import fuel ‌from any country willing to export it. Cuba historically has imported most ‍of its fuel from Venezuela ‍and ⁠Mexico. Venezuela is Cuba's biggest oil supplier, but since the capture of Venezuelan President ‌Nicolas Maduro ‌by U.S. forces, Trump has successfully pressed interim President Delcy Rodriguez to send Venezuelan oil ‌to the United States.



U.S Threat To Cuba


"THERE WILL BE NO MORE OIL OR MONEY GOING TO CUBA - ZERO! I strongly suggest they make a deal, BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE," Trump wrote on his social ​media platform Truth Social on Sunday.

"Cuba lived, ​for many years, on large amounts of OIL ‌and MONEY from ‍Venezuela," Trump said. U.S. intelligence has painted a grim ‍picture of Cuba's economic and political situation, but its ‌assessments offer no clear support for Trump's prediction that the island is "ready to fall," Reuters reported on Saturday, citing three people familiar with the confidential assessments.

The CIA’s view is that key sectors of the Cuban economy, such as agriculture and tourism, are severely strained by frequent blackouts, trade sanctions ‍and other problems. The potential loss of oil imports and other support from Venezuela, for decades a key ‍ally, could ⁠make governing ⁠more difficult for the administration that has ruled Cuba since Fidel Castro led a revolution in 1959.

For Cuba, the loss of Venezuelan oil is devastating. Between January and November of last year, Venezuela sent an average of 27,000 barrels per day (bpd) to the island, covering roughly 50 per cent of Cuba's oil deficit, according to shipping data and documents from Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA.


Donald Trump's Threat to China


China may soon be under pressure elsewhere in Latin America. It ⁠has sought to increase its influence in Cuba, and the U.S. suspects Beijing runs an intelligence-gathering operation there. China denies this, but last year pledged better intelligence sharing with Cuba, Reuters said.

In the days after the Venezuela operation, Trump said U.S. military intervention in Cuba, which has suffered from the loss of Venezuelan oil, was likely unnecessary because it appeared ready to fall on its own, as per a report on Reuters.

Among the many goals of last week's U.S. military operation that captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro was to send China a message: stay away from the Americas.

For at least two decades, Beijing has sought to build ‍influence in Latin America, not only to pursue economic opportunities but to gain a ​strategic foothold on the doorstep of its top geopolitical rival.

China's progress - from satellite tracking stations in Argentina and a port in Peru to economic support for Venezuela - ⁠has been an irritant for successive U.S. administrations, including that of Donald Trump.

Several Trump administration officials told Reuters the U.S. president's move against Maduro was intended in part to counter China's ambitions, and Beijing's days of leveraging debt to get cheap oil from Venezuela were 'over'.