Media: New US sanctions could force international firms out of Cuba

New sweeping US sanctions on Cuba could push international companies to leave the island, Bloomberg reports.

A day earlier, President Donald Trump unveiled measures that would allow Washington to target virtually any non-US individual or entity not conducting business on the island.

The sanctions cast uncertainty over the operations of companies such as Türkiye’s Karpowership, which runs a power barge in Havana, and Canada’s Sherritt International, involved in nickel and cobalt mining in Cuba.

Under the latest measures, financial institutions that have conducted transactions with certain Cuban individuals and entities could also be cut off from the US banking system.

William LeoGrande, an expert on US–Latin American relations at American University in Washington, said the sanctions are “incredibly, incredibly broad,” adding that he believes the Trump administration will use this new economic tool to “intimidate” companies into leaving the island.

Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel described the new US threats as “dangerous and unprecedented.”

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

By Jeyhun Aghazada