The Human Cost Of Trump’s Relentless Tariff Crusade Against Cuba

The lack of fuel and oil due to President Donald Trump’s tariff threats has resulted in a domino effect of turmoil in Cuba, including a decline in economic prosperity.

Life for close to 10 million residents has come to a halt as tourism has plummeted amid a lack of incoming flights and warnings from the UK and Canada against non-essential travel to Cuba. Schools are empty, classes are suspended, and workers are furloughed to save energy.

Hotels are reporting vacancies after the annual Habanos Cigar Festival, which brings in millions in revenue, was canceled.

Tour guide Mandy Pruna, who is famous for cruising in his bright red 1957 Chevrolet with visitors such as Will Smith and Rihanna on classic-car tours, reminisced about the period of economic prosperity the country saw after former President Barack Obama restored diplomatic relations with the Caribbean nation in 2015.

“All sectors of society benefited from that,” Pruna said.

“You saw people painting their houses, opening new businesses. For me, it was fantastic. It was the best era for tourism in Cuba.”

Now the streets are paved with mountains of garbage as the lack of fuel has stopped working dump trucks from doing their pick-up jobs in neighborhoods. According to DW, only 44 of Havana’s 106 garbage trucks were fully operational as of February 2026. ”It’s all over the city,” resident Jose Ramon Cruz said.

“It’s ‌been more than 10 days since a garbage truck came.”

The issue of a public health crisis has increased as it seems Cuba cannot lean on its remaining allies to supply the hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of fuel needed to keep the economy going.

However, Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel has called on residents to “resist creatively” and adopt what he calls “a wartime mentality.”

“We will eat what we can produce in each place. Now if there is less fuel, then food will not be able to leave from some municipalities to other ones,” President Diaz-Canel said during a January 2026 televised appearance.

But the business owner residents aren’t feeling it.

“We are paying two, three times as much to restock and keep people happy,” one food vendor said. “There’s no food. The impact will be terrible. We won’t have anything.”

It doesn’t look like the country will receive much help from the U.S. as Trump has referred to the country as “a failed nation,” pushing for it to make a deal with Secretary of State and Cuban-American, Marco Rubio, because it’s really a humanitarian threat.”

While Florida Republican Congresswoman Maria Elvira Salazar gives the option of resolving short-term suffering or “free Cuba forever,” those who call Cuba home, like Pruna, are thinking about leaving for good, as he no longer sees a future. “Everything is uncertain at the moment. There’s no fuel. We don’t know if  there will be any and how we will pay for it,” he said.