00:00If a country wants to send some oil into Cuba right now, I have no problem with it.
00:05U.S. President Donald Trump appeared Sunday to be reversing course on blocking oil shipments to Cuba.
00:11His remarks came as a Russian tanker carrying about 650,000 barrels of crude moved closer to a Cuban port,
00:19according to ship tracking data.
00:21The vessel was expected to dock Monday, bringing badly needed fuel to an economy struggling under a de facto oil
00:27blockade imposed by Washington.
00:29The U.S. cut off Venezuelan oil exports to Cuba after toppling Venezuelan President NicolĂĄs Maduro in January.
00:37Trump threatened to slap punishing tariffs on any other country stepping in, and Mexico, another major supplier, quickly halted its
00:45shipments.
00:46As a result, Cuba has not received an oil tanker in three months, according to President Miguel Diaz-Canel.
00:53Fuel shortages have since forced trick rationing, and a series of blackouts across the island of 10 million people.
01:00Among other effects, health officials say the crisis is raising the mortality risk for Cuban cancer patients, especially children.
01:07Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One, Trump downplayed the Russian shipment.
01:12It doesn't bother me much. It's not going to have an impact. Cuba's finished. They have a bad regime.
01:18They have very bad and corrupt leadership. And whether or not they get a boat of oil, it's not going
01:23to matter.
01:24I'd prefer letting it in, whether it's Russia or anybody else, because the people need heat and cooling and all
01:32of the other things that you need.
01:34Earlier this month, the U.S. temporarily eased some Russia-related sanctions to improve the global flow of oil, disrupted
01:41by the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran.
01:43But those exemptions explicitly barged in sanctions involving Cuba, as well as Iran, North Korea, and Crimea.
01:51While expressing concern for Cubans, Trump has issued a series of threatening statements against the country's government.
01:57Just last week, he hinted U.S.' attention could soon turn to the island.
02:01I built this great military. I said, you'll never have to use it. But sometimes you have to use it.
02:07And Cuba's next, by the way. But pretend I didn't say that, please.
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