Cuba has rejected US president Donald Trump's plan to impose tariffs on any country supplying oil to the island, describing the move as "blackmail".
"The US is resorting to blackmail and coercion, trying to force other countries to join its widely condemned Cuba blockade policy, threatening those who refuse with arbitrary and unfair tariffs," foreign minister Bruno Rodriguez said.
The US move will worsen persistent shortages of all forms of fuel caused by reduced imports and stagnant domestic crude production, a diplomat in Havana told Argus.
Many parts of Cuba have been facing 15-hour blackouts, with some areas going without electricity for days, the diplomat said, adding that tariffs can increase those blackouts and increase lines at retail fuel stations.
Cuba's power generators are delivering about a half of their nominal 2,420MW capacity to meet average demand of about 3,300MW, according to data from state power company UNE.
Trump's executive order imposing tariffs on any country that supplies oil to Cuba describes the island's government as an "unusual and extraordinary threat" to US national security.
Cuba needs about 140,000 b/d of crude and fuels and has been depending on imports of 100,000 b/d of all types of fuel, with the rest from domestic production of the heavy, sour crude processed by its pressured refineries, according to government data.
Rodriguez called the executive order a "brutal act of aggression against Cuba and its people".
Venezuela shipped 15,000 b/d of crude to Cuba in 2025, according to Kpler ship tracking data. But these supplies have been disrupted since mid-December by the US stopping sanctioned oil tankers traveling in and out of Venezuela.
Mexico has also been supplying crude and a range of oil products to Cuba under a longstanding agreement, and sent about 19,600 b/d to the island in the first half of 2025, based on the most recent available data.
Imports from Russia, once Cuba's main economic supporter, have also slipped significantly.
The US threat "will likely deter even Cuba's strongest supporters and suppliers of fuel," the diplomat said. "There is already some indication of Mexican uncertainty about future shipments."
