Trump Says U.S. Can Cut Deal With Cuba Easily While Maintaining Oil Blockade

President Donald Trump and a White House official said the United States is in talks with Cuba and that a bilateral deal could be reached easily if Cuba’s leadership agrees.

“Donald Trump has said the US is talking to Cuba, its leaders need to agree to a deal and that could be done easily, a White House official said on Friday, echoing the US president's previous comments after Havana confirmed negotiations were underway”

Balkanweb

The White House official quoted Trump saying the agreement “would be very easily achieved.”

Balkanweb

Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel said Havana had opened negotiations and described them as aiming “at finding solutions through dialogue for the bilateral disputes that we have between the two nations.”

The administration is simultaneously maintaining a punitive oil blockade and broader pressure campaign.

Both sources report Washington cut off Venezuelan oil shipments to Cuba after the U.S. seized Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in January.

TRT World

Officials also threatened tariffs on any country that supplies oil to Cuba, and Trump warned Cuba could face a “friendly takeover,” later saying it “might not be a friendly takeover.”

Observers and the articles emphasise the humanitarian impact inside Cuba: both outlets describe an acute economic crisis with widespread electricity outages, strict fuel rationing and shortages of medicine that shape the population’s daily life.

“Donald Trump has said the US is talking to Cuba, its leaders need to agree to a deal and that could be done easily, a White House official said on Friday, echoing the US president's previous comments after Havana confirmed negotiations were underway”

Balkanweb

TRT World notes that exiles in Florida and other Cuban diaspora communities have long pushed for harsher action.

Balkanweb highlights the deepening crisis as Havana loses key external support, and both outlets connect U.S. measures and the loss of Venezuelan assistance to worsening deprivation for ordinary Cubans.

The Trump administration has formalised the pressure through an executive order.

TRT World reports that a January 29 executive order labelled Cuba an “unusual and extraordinary threat” and created a national emergency framework to expand punitive measures.

TRT World

Both outlets present this legal mechanism as enabling Washington to intensify sanctions and to coerce third countries that might aid Cuba, framing the diplomatic opening to dialogue as occurring alongside strengthened tools for pressure.