Cuba maintains trade relations with 160 different countries. The US doesn’t prevent them from trading with other countries and doesn’t block ships to and from Cuba. They just block US companies from trading with Cuban businesses.
The U.S. military has seized ships that have supported Cuba. And in recent days, vessels roaming the Caribbean Sea in search of fuel for Cuba have come up empty or been intercepted by the U.S. authorities.
While President Trump has pledged to halt any oil headed to Cuba, the Trump administration has stopped short of calling its policy a blockade.
But it is functioning as one.
At the same time, the largest U.S. military presence in the Caribbean in decades is policing the waters around the island, fresh off its work blocking oil shipments to and from Venezuela ahead of the U.S. capture of the country’s leader, Nicolás Maduro, last month.
A trade embargo is not the same as a blockade.
Cuba maintains trade relations with 160 different countries. The US doesn’t prevent them from trading with other countries and doesn’t block ships to and from Cuba. They just block US companies from trading with Cuban businesses.
Nope, it’s a blockade - the US seizes vessels that try to trade with Cuba. That’s why it’s been such big news. Have you been living under a rock?
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/20/world/americas/cuba-oil-blockade-trump.html