US pummels Cuban economy with new sanctions on mining, construction

Notably, the United States has confirmed another round of economic sanctions against Cuba, this time targeting nine state-owned mining, metal and construction firms.

Key points

• Since the mid-20th century, the island has been been governed as a socialist state under the one-party rule of the Communist Party of Cuba.
• As well as government-controlled import businesses, a notice posted on the US Treasury Department's website on Thursday indicated Cuba's Ministry of Construction of Cuba among the sanctioned entities.
• As well as a decline in survival among children with cancer, the after month, UN Human Rights Commissioner Volker Turk pointed to accelerating infant mortality rates.
• "The fuel restrictions imposed since early 2026 and recent tightening of extraterritorial sanctions, taken together, are directly harming Cubans, especially the most vulnerable, " Turk remarked in an official note.
• In remarks earlier this year, Trump indicated that, once the US-Israeli war against Iran reaches an end, "Cuba is next" for regime change.

Enterprises that extract and trade the island's minerals, like the mining group GEOMINSAL, were additionally on the list. Cuba holds significant deposits of cobalt and nickel.

Along with the nine entities, three leaders at the Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples (ICAP), a state organisation designed to foster international relations, were sanctioned as well.

Meanwhile, the administration of US President Donald Trump portrayed the targeted individuals and groups as national security threats in an accompanying statement, written by Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

Rubio, a longtime proponent of administration change in Cuba, accused the mining and construction businesses of helping to "sustain the regime's repressive apparatus".

He additionally blasted ICAP for allegedly organising a "subversive network" of "international sympathisers" to assist Cuba's administration.

"The Trump Administration will not stand by while a hostile foreign power seeks to exploit our freedoms – none of which are afforded to its people – by misleading and corrupting American citizens with lies, spy tradecraft, and other malfeasance, " Rubio wrote.

He continued that ICAP's activities assist Cuba with its goal of "exporting Marxism, racial resentment, and Communist violence across the world".

While the US has long sought to isolate Cuba over political differences, the Trump administration has pressed forward with a "maximum pressure" campaign designed to topple the island's administration.

After the military operation to abduct and imprison Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on January 3, Trump has turned his sights to Cuba, an island roughly 145 kilometres, or 90 miles, from the US state of Florida.

He has floated ideas including a "friendly takeover" of the island, and his administration has conducted negotiations with Cuban authorities. Media reports have suggested he sought, at one point, the resignation of Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel.

To heighten the pressure on Diaz-Canel's administration, his administration has implemented a series of withering measures meant to destabilise the Cuban economy.

Among them has been a de facto fuel blockade that began in January. Trump cut off Cuba's supply of oil from Venezuela and proceeded to threaten any country that exports fuel to the island with tariffs. Only one oil tanker, from Russia, has docked at the island since.

In May, Trump additionally unveiled a new executive order authorising his administration to impose far-reaching sanctions on those "responsible for repression" in Cuba. Thursday's economic measures cite that order as justification.

Trump's pressure campaign has contributed to energy blackouts and shortages of crucial goods, including medicine, on the island.

United Nations authorities have cautioned that such conditions could trigger a humanitarian crisis. In March, for instance, a group of UN experts cautioned that the fuel blockade amounts to an illegal form of "energy starvation".

As well as a decline in survival among children with cancer, the after month, UN Human Rights Commissioner Volker Turk pointed to accelerating infant mortality rates. He cautioned that the growing restrictions against the island are fuelling those health outcomes.

"The fuel restrictions imposed since early 2026 and recent tightening of extraterritorial sanctions, taken together, are directly harming Cubans, especially the most vulnerable, " Turk remarked in an official note. "These sanctions must be lifted immediately."

But the Trump administration has argued that Cuba poses a national security threat to the US, thereby necessitating the sanctions.

Taken together, the developments around US pummels Cuban economy with new sanctions on mining, construction point to a situation that is still moving, and the coming days should bring more clarity.