Donald Trump said the US is negotiating with Cuba, that its leaders need to make a deal, and that it can easily be done. A White House spokesman said this on Friday, echoing previous statements by the US president after Havana confirmed that talks are underway, Reuters reports.
Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel earlier said his government had begun negotiations with Washington as a oil blockade imposed by Trump is further worsening the economic crisis in the communist-run country.
“As the president has said, we are negotiating with Cuba, whose leaders need to make a deal, which he believes ‘can be made very easily,'” the White House spokesman said on condition of anonymity.
Díaz-Canel said the negotiations “were aimed at finding solutions through dialogue on bilateral disagreements existing between the two countries.”
After the US seized Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in January, removing Cuba’s most important foreign patron, Trump halted Venezuelan oil shipments to Cuba and threatened tariffs on any country selling oil to Cuba.
“Cuba is a country in decline, its leadership dealt a serious blow due to the loss of Venezuelan support and the cessation of oil supplies from Mexico,” the White House spokesman said.
