Trump Says He’ll Have the ‘Honor of Taking Cuba’

President Donald Trump said Monday he believes he will have the “honor of taking Cuba.”

“I do believe I’ll be having the honor of taking Cuba. That’s a big honor, taking Cuba in some form,” Trump told reporters at the White House during an executive order signing. “Taking Cuba. I mean, whether I free it, take it, I think I can do anything I want with it.”

Trump previously said the communist island is “at the end of the line” after losing its main oil provider when the U.S. captured its ally, Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro, in January. The president also said Cuba was part of his “to-do list,” suggesting a possible “friendly takeover” or other form of engagement.

Trump’s administration has put pressure on Havana via measures designed to isolate the communist regime.

On Jan. 29, Trump issued an executive order imposing tariffs on any nation selling oil to Cuba, accusing the regime of ties to Russia, China, Iran, Hamas, and Hezbollah. The order ended imports from Mexico, exacerbated shortages, and caused frequent power outages on the communist-run island.

Trump’s comments on Monday came on the same day that officials in Cuba reported an islandwide blackout, affecting the country of some 11 million people. The power failure marked the third major outage in the last four months. Blackouts in Cuba have become increasingly frequent and prolonged since 2024, in part due to a lack of maintenance for the aging grid.

U.S. and Cuban officials have engaged in fragile talks. Trump said on March 8 that negotiations were taking place, led by him and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, saying that a deal could be done “very easily.”

Trump on Jan. 31 also said U.S. officials had begun talks with Cuba, saying “they need help on a humanitarian basis.”

Havana announced March 14 that Cubans living abroad, including in the United States, can invest in and own private businesses on the island.

Óscar Pérez-Oliva Fraga, Cuba’s deputy prime minister and minister of foreign trade and investment, told NBC News in an exclusive interview published on March 16 that Cuban nationals residing overseas—including those in Miami—will be permitted to participate directly in the island’s emerging private economy.

“Cuba is open to having a fluid commercial relationship with U.S. companies,” Fraga said in a sit-down interview in Havana. “Also with Cubans residing in the United States and their descendants.”

The measure marks a potentially significant shift for the communist-run nation, which for decades has tightly restricted private ownership and outside investment.

Tom Ozimek contributed to this report.