Trump Signs Cuba Sanctions Order Reaching Foreign Banks and Relatives of Targets

Trump signed Executive Order 14404, "Imposing Sanctions on Those Responsible for Repression in Cuba and for Threats to United States National Security and Foreign Policy," invoking the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, the National Emergencies Act and Section 212(f) of the Immigration and Nationality Act. The order authorizes blocking the property of foreign persons who operate in Cuba's energy, defense, metals, mining, financial-services or security sectors, who are owned or controlled by the Cuban government, who hold leadership positions in Cuban entities, or who commit human-rights abuses or corruption connected to Cuba. It extends to adult family members of designated individuals.

The order also carries secondary-sanctions authority: the Treasury Secretary may sanction foreign financial institutions that process transactions for blocked persons, including by barring their U.S. correspondent accounts. Provisions of that kind reach beyond U.S. jurisdiction and press foreign banks to comply with American policy or lose access to the dollar system, a mechanism that has drawn objections from European trading partners when applied elsewhere.

The State Department announced accompanying designations of Cuban military and regime figures in May, and Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control published implementing actions the same day. Further designations, including of Cuba's state oil company, followed in June.