The Supreme Court struck down Trump’s threatened tariffs on countries that send oil to Cuba, but the crisis persists.
By Marjorie Cohn
Feb., 2026
Source: truthout.org
In accordance with Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s long-standing vendetta against Cuba, Donald Trump issued an executive order on January 29 aimed at tightening the U.S. noose around Cuba’s neck.
Trump’s order preposterously declared Cuba “an unusual and extraordinary threat,” without providing a shred of evidence, and warned that he would impose punitive tariffs on states that deliver fuel to Cuba.
His intention is to suffocate the Cuban people, who rely on oil for 80 percent of their electricity. UN human rights experts called Trump’s order “a serious violation of international law” and “an extreme form of unilateral economic coercion with extraterritorial effects, through which the United States seeks to exert coercion on the sovereign state of Cuba and compel other sovereign third States to alter their lawful commercial relations, under threat of punitive trade measures.”
On February 20, however, the Supreme Court struck down Trump’s massive tariffs because they exceeded authority delegated by Congress under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA). The IEEPA authorizes the president to regulate commerce during national emergencies created by foreign threats.
Later that day, in response to the court’s decision, Trump issued an executive order ending IEEPA-based tariffs, including those that would penalize countries that ship oil to Cuba. That order stops the collection of all IEEPA tariffs, including those threatened in the January 29 Cuba emergency order.
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