‘USA Today’ reveals an alleged plan to facilitate investments by US companies in energy, ports and tourism on the island
14ymedio, Madrid, March 9, 2026 — The Trump administration will soon announce an economic agreement with Cuba, according to two sources familiar with the talks who spoke to USA Today. According to this report, the pact includes lifting sanctions in the energy, port, and tourism sectors, as well as easing the travel ban to the island for Americans. In exchange, President Miguel Díaz-Canel would negotiate his departure from Cuba, but the Castro regime would remain.
The newspaper does not give dates on when the exact content of the agreement will be known, but believes it could be very soon, something reinforced by the statements of Trump himself, who has been anticipating an imminent change in Cuba for days, with much of the country overwhelmed by blackouts of more than 20 hours a day.
When asked about it, the White House declined to confirm anything and referred USA Today to the president’s recent remarks, most recently at the summit with his 12 right-wing counterparts in Miami on Saturday, where he said: “Cuba is at the end of its road. It is very much at the end of its road. It has no money. It has no oil. It has a bad philosophy. It has a bad regime that has been bad for a long time.”
The newspaper thus concludes a weekend dedicated to reporting on this seemingly imminent agreement, in which it remains unclear what the US will gain in return. The article follows a report published the previous day, which gave voice to several business leaders from both sides of the border who shared their opinions on current and future trade easing measures. One of them is John Kavulich, president of the US-Cuba Economic and Trade Council, who claims to have been approached by the administration about the possibility of his organization’s members supporting Trump’s strategy of dealing directly with the private sector on the island and forming a body, possibly called the Executive Directors Council for a Free and Democratic Cuba.
Kavulich claims to have been sounded out by the Administration about the possibility of his group’s members supporting Trump’s strategy of dealing directly with the private sector on the Island.
None of those consulted agreed, Kavulich maintains. “Everyone is terrified that the Administration will support them in the morning and then criticize them by lunchtime,” said the businessman, who asserts that they are waiting to see what happens. In his opinion, Trump’s strategy is very similar to the one initiated by Barack Obama during the thaw, although this time it seems more likely to succeed than before, since it has been assumed that the current US administration will not hesitate to force the issue if the regime stalls.
Despite this, Kavulich believes that, once again, Havana will emerge more unscathed than some expect. “They’re not liquidating, they’re reorganizing,” he said, and criticized Trump’s strategy as less perestroika and more bankruptcy.
USA Today also spoke with Aldo Álvarez, whom they describe as a Cuban businessman who, after spending several days with his merchandise stuck at a port due to a diesel shortage, saw a limited supply arrive at the nearest gas station for private individuals like himself. “It’s a significant change. I can guarantee my supply on a stable basis… Without a doubt, it’s good news,” he told the newspaper.
Álvarez owns Mercatoria, a company that imports all kinds of products and is advertised on Cubadebate. The project began as a local development in 2021, but soon grew into something more substantial, and its founder has even attended several events in the US to try to establish ties with businesspeople in the neighboring country, which is why he is now delighted.
“The Trump Administration recognizes the Cuban private sector as a real sector and also as a key strategic partner on the ground to help alleviate the humanitarian crisis. We have never seen anything like this before,” Ric Herrero, executive director of the Cuba Study Group, told the media outlet, expressing surprise at Trump’s change of approach.
Eric Jacobstein, former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs during the Biden administration, who has made numerous trips to the island to meet with business leaders, praises Cuba’s private sector and believes it is essential to support it from the United States. “It is crucial to engage them. They are independent, entrepreneurial… It is a group that has embraced capitalism within a decaying communist system,” he says.
Michael Bustamante, from the Department of Cuban and Cuban-American Studies at the University of Miami, fears how the Cuban exile community in Florida will react to these contacts between officials and businesspeople from the island, “something they have strongly opposed for years,” he stated. “I think it’s a surprise to many people. Perhaps it will be a surprise to Marco Rubio,” he believes.
Michael Bustamante, from the Department of Cuban and Cuban-American Studies at the University of Miami, fears how the Cuban exile community in Florida will react to these contacts between officials and businessmen from the Island, “something they have strongly opposed for years.”
The current Secretary of State, a vocal critic of any lifting of sanctions and Obama’s policy toward the island, is reportedly making a similar move, according to these theories, even though he probably never imagined finding himself in this situation. Just two weeks ago, at the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) summit, where some of his advisors allegedly met with representatives of the regime, Rubio said: “The status quo is unacceptable… Cuba needs to change. It doesn’t have to change all at once. It doesn’t have to change overnight… But Cuba needs to change. It needs to change drastically.”
This Friday, several US media outlets reported that the creation of a task force within the Department of Justice is being considered to prosecute potential criminal offenses – related to drug trafficking, immigration, or violence – in order to, as The Washington Post put it , “overthrow the regime.”
But at the same time, the US press is insistently promoting the option of negotiations, avoiding confrontation. “Perhaps we’ll have a friendly takeover of Cuba,” Trump told a group of journalists last week.
“It was clear that President Trump wouldn’t focus so much on eradicating communism from Cuba, but rather on prioritizing trade, economic, and financial interaction,” Kavulich reiterates. “I don’t think anyone should be surprised if we eventually see Steve Witkoff [US special envoy] and Jared Kushner [Trump advisor] in Havana negotiating with the Cuban government.”
Robert Muse, a Washington lawyer specializing in assisting American companies in Cuba, told USA Today that business leaders are cautiously following developments after so often believing the island would become like China or Vietnam. Now, according to Muse, things are different. “There’s a growing awareness that this is a pivotal year. This is a fundamental economic reform in Cuba,” he says.
Regarding when it will happen, the outlet returns to Trump’s statements in Doral, as instructed by the White House: “We are focused now on Iran, and that’s what we’ll do. I would say, ‘What will you do? Will you take two days off, Marco? Maybe an hour. He’ll take an hour off and then close a deal on Cuba.’”
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