{"id":79744,"date":"2026-02-07T07:57:41","date_gmt":"2026-02-07T10:57:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shipping.einnews.com\/article\/890270946"},"modified":"2026-02-07T07:57:41","modified_gmt":"2026-02-07T10:57:41","slug":"mexico-faces-weighty-decision-over-trump-ultimatum-on-shipping-oil-to-cuba","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/2026\/02\/07\/mexico-faces-weighty-decision-over-trump-ultimatum-on-shipping-oil-to-cuba\/","title":{"rendered":"Mexico faces weighty decision over Trump ultimatum on shipping oil to Cuba"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Mexico<\/a> faces a choice with far-reaching diplomatic and geopolitical ramifications as it decides whether to resume oil exports to Cuba<\/a> despite President Donald Trump<\/a>\u2018s threat to hit the communist nation\u2019s trade partners with tariffs. <\/p>\n

The ultimatum presents a major decision point for Mexico, whose leader President Claudia Sheinbaum has sought closer ties to left-wing countries in Latin America but has so far managed to maintain a working relationship with Trump.<\/p>\n

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\u201cObviously, we don\u2019t want sanctions against Mexico,\u201d Sheinbaum said Friday<\/a>, explaining that she is trying to negotiate with Trump. <\/p>\n

Mexico entered the Trump administration\u2019s crosshairs after it became Cuba\u2019s main source for oil after the U.S. captured Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro and stopped shipments of Venezuelan oil to Havana. <\/p>\n

In mid-January, Mexico temporarily halted oil shipments to Cuba, although it maintained that the decision was not made because of pressure from Trump. <\/p>\n

Shortly afterward, Trump signed an executive order<\/a> imposing tariffs on goods from countries that sell or provide oil to Cuba. <\/p>\n

This week, though, the CEO of Pemex, Mexico\u2019s national oil company, Victor Rodriguez, said that Mexico would maintain exports to Cuba for as long as there was available product, according to Reuters<\/em><\/a>. He also said that the company supplied oil and petroleum products to Cuba worth $496 million last year.<\/p>\n

Resuming the shipments could be a major step backward in Mexico\u2019s relations with Trump. Last year, Sheinbaum succeeded in reaching agreements to stave off tariffs threatened by Trump. Mexico is the top trading partner of the United States.<\/p>\n

Now, though, the Trump administration is seeking new leverage to remove the communist regime in Cuba. Secretary of State Marco Rubio recently said the administration would \u201clove<\/a>\u201d to see a regime change in Cuba. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think we would love to see the regime there change,\u201d Rubio said at a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing last month.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat doesn\u2019t mean we are going to make a change, but we would love to see a change,\u201d he said. \u201cThere\u2019s no doubt about the fact that it would be of great benefit to the U.S. if Cuba was no longer governed by an autocratic regime.\u201d<\/p>\n

And the situation in Cuba is becoming dire. A shortage of fuel in Cuba has led to blackouts across the country, including in the capital, Havana<\/a>, and has also affected food prices and transportation. Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel said on Thursday that the government would announce a plan next week<\/a> to address the fuel shortages, Reuters<\/em> reported.<\/p>\n

\u201c[The U.S. blockade] affects public transportation, hospitals, schools, the economy, and tourism,\u201d Diaz-Canel said in a televised press conference. \u201cHow do we till our soil? How do we move around? How do we keep our kids in classes without fuel?<\/p>\n

US SEEKS TRADING BLOC TO COUNTER CHINA GRIP ON CRITICAL MINERALS, VANCE SAYS<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cWe are going to take measures that, while not permanent, will require effort. Some \u2026 are restrictive, requiring us to adjust consumption and promote savings,\u201d he said. \u201cThere are things we have to stop, or postpone, in order to continue functioning in essential areas.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/a><\/strong> <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mexico faces a choice with far-reaching diplomatic and geopolitical ramifications as it decides whether to resume oil exports to Cuba despite President Donald Trump\u00e2\u0080\u0098s threat to hit the communist nation\u00e2\u0080\u0099s trade partners with tariffs. The ultimatum presents …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-79744","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","wpcat-1-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79744","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=79744"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79744\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=79744"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=79744"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=79744"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}