Trump Meets Xi Jinping in Beijing

The company and its employees will begin leaving the island. Sherritt had already paused operations due to fuel supply constraints stemming from the near-total U.S. oil blockade of Cuba. The sanctions give foreign firms a four-week window to wind down transactions with GAESA-owned entities or risk having their U.S. assets blocked.

Financial institutions across Canada, the European Union and Latin America have initiated a de facto boycott of Cuba-related transactions out of concern over potential Treasury Department enforcement. While in Italy last week, Rubio met with Vatican officials amid hopes of progress in U.S.-Cuba talks.

No breakthrough was announced. Instead, the sanctions followed the meeting. The administration has also reportedly made an offer of $100 million in humanitarian aid, two years of free Starlink internet access, agricultural assistance and infrastructure support in exchange for the release of political prisoners, an end to repression, and greater openness to American private sector investment.

Cuba has denied that any such offer was made. Cuban officials pointed to delays in previously promised U.S. assistance. The country has expressed willingness to negotiate but warned that the current U.S. path could lead to a "bloodbath" in Cuba. U.S. officials have conducted 25 intelligence-gathering surveillance flights off Cuba since February.

Trump has grown frustrated with the lack of results from the pressure campaign and has directed advisers to intensify efforts ahead of U.S. midterm elections. Officials say the administration is not planning imminent military action and remains committed to a diplomatic solution.

Cuba's mining sector accounts for one-third of its total exports. Chinese state-owned firms have increased purchases of nickel and cobalt from the country's largest mine and begun supplying heavy machinery. This shift raises the prospect of a more durable Chinese presence at a site expropriated from a U.S. company in 1960.

The sanctions arrive as Cuba's economy faces severe strain. Tourism revenue has plummeted, hotels are shuttering, and fuel shortages have paralyzed large segments of activity. In the first quarter of 2026, U.S. and Cuban authorization allowed $11.6 million in diesel and gasoline sales to the island's private sector, providing a limited lifeline to its emerging entrepreneurial class.

Spanish hotel chains operating on the island and in the United States are among those monitoring potential exposure. The administration's approach combines escalating secondary sanctions with conditional offers of aid in an attempt to elicit political and economic changes from Havana.

Talks between the two sides have reached a standstill since high-level meetings in Havana last month. Cuba has not announced further economic reforms or prisoner releases since taking modest steps in March. Those earlier measures had signaled to some observers that a broader agreement might be forming.

The Cuba pressure campaign follows a pattern of intensified U.S. actions in the hemisphere and beyond. Officials have drawn parallels to recent developments involving Venezuela. Despite the heightened sanctions, both sides continue to express interest in a negotiated outcome, though significant obstacles remain.