Trump declares national emergency, imposes tariffs on countries supplying oil to Cuba

US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order declaring a national emergency over Cuba, a move that would allow Washington to impose tariffs on countries that supply oil to the island.

The order said that Cuba poses an extraordinary threat to US national security because of its cooperation with "numerous hostile countries, transnational terrorist groups, and malign actors", including Russia, China and Iran as well as the groups Hamas and Hezbollah.

Trump said that Cuba hosts dangerous adversaries of the US and allows them to deploy military capabilities on its territory that threaten US security.

"Cuba hosts Russia's largest overseas signals intelligence facility, which tries to steal sensitive national security information of the United States. Cuba continues to build deep intelligence and defence cooperation with the PRC," the executive order stated.

As a result, the US is introducing secondary tariffs, meaning duties on goods from countries that directly or indirectly sell or supply oil to Cuba.

Decisions on the application of such tariffs will be taken following assessments by the US secretary of commerce and the secretary of state.

Last year, a group of US senators initiated a bill proposing sanctions against Russia using a similar mechanism.

Trump is ready to sign legislation imposing additional sanctions on Russia, provided he keeps the authority to make the final decision on those measures.