U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a press briefing in the Brady Briefing Room of the White House in Washington, DC, November 9, 2026.
Mandel Ngan | AFP | Getty Images
US President Donald Trump has said he wants to “finish Cuba” before leaving office in 2029, adding that he would “certainly consider” military intervention against the communist-ruled Caribbean island.
In an interview with conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt on Thursday, Trump said his administration was monitoring the situation in Havana “very closely” and described Cuba as a “failed” state.
“I want to finish Cuba before I leave,” Trump said. His comments marked the first time he set a timetable on possible military intervention to overthrow Cuban authorities, according to Politico.
Trump said Secretary of State Marco Rubio, whose parents are from Cuba, “would love to do it” and would “certainly consider” a short military operation.
This comes as the United States continues to impose a comprehensive economic embargo against Cuba, a campaign that has helped deepen the energy and economic crisis on the island. Cuba has suffered repeated nationwide power outages in recent months, as well as fuel and food shortages.
The Cuban embassy in Washington estimated Thursday that the cost of the US blockade against Cuba between March 2025 and February 2026 was $8 billion.
Earlier this month, the Treasury Department imposed new sanctions on Cuban tankers and shipping companies and threatened to target any international entity or person doing business in its shipping or shipping industries as part of a campaign “aimed at ending the malign activities of the Cuban regime, both in Cuba and throughout our hemisphere.”
A tanker truck drives on a street in Matanzas, Cuba, March 30, 2026.
Stringer | Afp | Getty Images
In response, the Cuban Embassy in Washington, D.C., said the measures “deepen an energy siege that is already leaving hospitals without reliable electricity and families facing power outages.” The blockade does not target a government. It’s a collective punishment that hits ordinary people every day.”
Trump has previously raised the prospect of a “friendly takeover” of Havana and said the White House could turn its sights to Cuba after the Iran war. The US president also said he could do whatever he wanted with the country, adding that he believed he would have the “honor” of “taking Cuba.”
In May, Cuban Energy Minister Vicente de la O Levy said the country of about 10 million people was running out of fuel oil and diesel, calling the country’s plight “extremely tense.”
Analysts are generally skeptical about the prospect of a U.S. military campaign against Cuba, suggesting that further economic pressure against the island’s authorities appears more likely.
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