President Trump told reporters on Friday that there may be a “friendly takeover” of Cuba. “The Cuban government is talking with us. They’re in a big deal of trouble as you know,” Trump said. “They have no money. They have no anything right now. But they’re talking with us,” he continued. “Maybe we’ll have a friendly takeover of Cuba. We could very well end up having a friendly takeover of Cuba,” he added. Check it out: NOW – Trump: "We could very well end up having a friendly takeover of Cuba." pic.twitter.com/xByy596J1j — Disclose.tv (@disclosetv) February 27, 2026 The Hill has more: Trump imposed a fuel blockade on the island in an executive order at the end of January in a push to collapse the regime, which relies heavily on energy and food imports. The United Nations’s top official for Cuba warned on Wednesday that daily life on the island is “becoming fragile” with increased strains on health care, water services and food distribution. U.S. officials reportedly met Thursday with the grandson of 94-year-old former president Raúl Castro, considered the de facto leader of the totalitarian regime, on the sidelines of a conference in the Caribbean attended by Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Castro’s grandson, Raúl Guillermo Rodriguez Castro, serves as his grandfather’s bodyguard and is believed to oversee Cuba’s armed forces’s conglomerate, known as GAESA, which controls much of the island’s economy. The Miami Herald reported that in 2024, GAESA had about $18 billion in assets and in unknown bank accounts. The Cuban government has instituted emergency measures to deal with the U.S. fuel quarantine and is said to have between six and seven weeks of fuel left before falling into a major blackout. “Cuba has turned to electric tricycles for local transport as fuel became scarce after the US cut off oil exports from Venezuela and threatened penalties for countries that supplied the island,” Reuters wrote earlier this month. Footage below: Cuba has turned to electric tricycles for local transport as fuel became scarce after the US cut off oil exports from Venezuela and threatened penalties for countries that supplied the island https://t.co/klCxt4GhM9 pic.twitter.com/GjZzTSBdSz — Reuters (@Reuters) February 16, 2026 Last month, a report in The Wall Street Journal claimed the Trump administration was hoping to “cut a deal” to facilitate the end of communist rule on the island nation. “Emboldened by the U.S. ouster of a Venezuelan strongman, the Trump administration is seeking Cuban government insiders who can help cut a deal to push out the Communist regime by year’s end,” the outlet wrote. Exclusive: Emboldened by the U.S. ouster of a Venezuelan strongman, the Trump administration is seeking Cuban government insiders who can help cut a deal to push out the Communist regime by year's end. https://t.co/yz7UwKKUbb — The Wall Street Journal (@WSJ) January 22, 2026 POLITICO explained further: Trump’s comments come after Cuban border troops killed four Cubans from the U.S. and wounded six others during a confrontation Wednesday that Cuban authorities called an attempted terrorist attack. U.S. lawmakers from Florida have used the incident to call for regime change. All members were “Cuban residents of the United States,” the Cuban Interior Ministry said following the incident. Rep. Carlos Gimenez (R-Fla.) said “We need that regime to go,” after the attack. “The regime is causing this humanitarian crisis in Cuba. And the faster they go, the faster that we can help the Cuban people.” The State Department on Thursday said that two people who participated in the confrontation were U.S. citizens — one of whom was killed during the standoff. On Friday, Trump said that many Cuban exiles would like to return home and are pleased with the pressure he is placing on the country’s regime. “Something could — I think very positive for the people that were expelled or worse from Cuba that live here,” he said. “We have people living here that want to go back to Cuba. They’re very happy with what’s going on.”