President Trump said Sunday night that he’s OK with a Russian oil tanker delivering its payload to Cuba, effectively relaxing a blockade that has plunged the island into an energy crisis.
Reporters aboard Air Force One asked Trump about a New York Times report that the United States would allow the tanker filled with crude oil to reach Cuba.
“We have a tanker out there. We don’t mind having somebody get a boatload, because they need…they have to survive,” he said.
“If a country wants to send some oil into Cuba right now, I have no problem whether it’s Russia or not.”
Trump said he was not worried about helping Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has already seen a jump in oil and gas revenue amid the Iran war.
“It doesn’t help him. He loses one boatload of oil, that’s all it is. If he wants to do that, and if other countries want to do it, that doesn’t bother me much. It’s not going to have an impact,” he said.
“Cuba’s finished,” he added. “They have a bad regime. They have very bad and corrupt leadership. And whether or not they get a boat of oil, it’s not going to matter. I prefer letting it in, whether it’s Russia or anybody else, because the people need heat and cooling and all of the other things that you need.”
The Times reported the tanker is owned by the Russian government and carrying an estimated 730,000 barrels of oil. It could reach Cuba by Monday night, according to MarineTraffic, a ship-data provider.
Cuba is in desperate need of oil and gas. The Trump administration has been allowing some energy sales to private companies, but has effectively cut off the government, which runs the country’s hospitals, schools and utilities.
The island has experienced repeated blackouts in recent weeks and is in a deepening economic crisis.
Trump has been unclear about his endgame as he squeezes the country’s communist leaders, but suggested earlier this month he’d “take” Cuba.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who is leading talks with the Castro regime, has said the government needs to change, but not all at once.
Cuban officials announced steps to open the country to foreign investment earlier this month, but Rubio said that wasn’t sufficient.
Florida Republicans are leading a push for regime change. However, the Trump administration has signalled it may be willing to work with parts of the Castro regime — as it has with remnants of the Maduro regime in Venezuela.
