US Container Shipping to Cuba Surges Despite Trump’s Ever-Tighter Sanctions - Bloomberg.com
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US container shipments to Cuba have surged to record levels under Trump's administration, which is leveraging humanitarian trade exceptions to funnel goods and establish economic dependency on Washington. This apparent contradiction—expanding exports while tightening sanctions—reveals a strategic shift toward displacing the Cuban government as the island's primary supplier.
US Trade With Cuba: Cargo Shipments Surge Despite Trump Sanctions
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Cuba:
US Sanctions
Regime on the Brink
Population Collapse
!Video poster
Politics
US Container Shipping to Cuba Surges Despite Trump’s Ever-Tighter Sanctions
Fuel, solar panels, food and more are getting through the blockade in a boost to the island’s nascent private sector.
*The ship Regula is loaded with cargo and fuel tanks on Sept. 5 for one of its regular trips to Cuba from Port Everglades, near Miami. Video: Zak Bennett/Bloomberg*
By Michael Smith and Tom Fevrier
September 25, 2026 at 5:00 AM EDT
The container ship Regula headed out of Port Everglades near Miami early one September morning to run another load of cargo past President Donald Trump’s blockade of Cuba.
It was the 18th trip by the Regula to the port of Mariel this year, part of a flotilla of ships the Trump administration is allowing to make runs to Cuba from the US. Cargo ships have made over 200 trips to the island, loaded with goods like fuel, solar panels, frozen chicken, rice, appliances, trucks, cars, auto parts, and motorcycles, previously unreported trade data shows.
The US trade boom contrasts sharply with Trump’s aggressive campaign to force Cuba’s communist regime from power via a fuel blockade and squeezing the island’s biggest trade and investment partners. The president’s threats — including a dramatic expansion of sanctions on commerce with Cuba — led at least two major shipping companies to shut down cargo shipments. That’s stranded 7,000 containers from other countries at ports in Jamaica, Panama and Colombia, the Cuban government said.
But for Americans, especially in Cuban-immigrant heavy Miami, Trump is clearing the widest path in at least three decades through the embargo that President John F. Kennedy imposed soon after Fidel Castro seized power in 1959. The US is now trying to use exports to make Cuba financially dependent on Washington — essentially taking the place of the Soviet Union during the Cold War and Venezuela more recently.
Regula Is One of Dozens of Vessels Running Past Trump’s Cuba Blockade
*Sources: Bloomberg News analysis of S&P Global Energy and WoodMac data
Note: Vessel movements as of Sept. 10.*
The Trump administration is allowing increased trade with the island’s nascent private sector to head off a humanitarian and immigration crisis, as well as to displace the Cuban government as the country’s primary supplier of goods and services, according to a person familiar with the strategy who requested anonymity to discuss sensitive matters.
!Lianys Torres Rivera stands with her arms crossed in the hallway of the Cuban embassy, wearing glasses and a red-and-black dress.
*Lianys Torres Rivera, Cuba’s ambassador to the US. Photographer: Pete Kiehart/Bloomberg*
Lianys Torres Rivera, Cuba’s top diplomat in Washington, said US imports are helping ease acute shortages caused by Trump’s pressure campaign — but it’s far from enough. “Look, it’s positive,” she said in an interview. “But the United States should not restrict any imports to Cuba.”
The White House referred questions to the State Department, which said in an emailed statement that the US is one of the top exporters of food and humanitarian goods to Cuba because the island’s government isn’t meeting “the basic needs” of its people.
“US sanctions target the regime’s sources of revenue, its elites, and insiders, while maintaining important humanitarian exceptions such as for the export of food and medical goods,” a State Department spokesperson said.
The Commerce Department, which issues Cuba export controls, didn’t respond to requests for comment.
As of late August, the US flotilla had delivered nearly 720 million pounds of goods to Cuba from Miami, Houston, New Orleans, Jacksonville, Wilmington and other ports. Exports to Cuba are up 60% through July compared with the same period last year and more than all of 2024, US Census data show.
Dozens of companies are using a loophole called “Support for the Cuban People” to pack ships with more containers of goods, with the average load destined for Cuba on the Regula doubling this year. The carveout was designed for Miami’s Cuban diaspora to send care packages to friends and family back home, but enterprising entrepreneurs have scaled it up under Trump. And the US is allowing some cargo that’s piled up across the Caribbean because of Trump’s crackdown to be rerouted to the island through US ports instead.
Seaborne Exports to Cuba Are on Track for a Record Year
More than $650M worth of goods have been shipped to Cuba from US ports so far this year, nearly half of them from Port Everglades in Florida
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Skip to content
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Cuba:
US Sanctions
Regime on the Brink
Population Collapse
!Video poster
Politics
US Container Shipping to Cuba Surges Despite Trump’s Ever-Tighter Sanctions
Fuel, solar panels, food and more are getting through the blockade in a boost to the island’s nascent private sector.
*The ship Regula is loaded with cargo and fuel tanks on Sept. 5 for one of its regular trips to Cuba from Port Everglades, near Miami. Video: Zak Bennett/Bloomberg*
By Michael Smith and Tom Fevrier
September 25, 2026 at 5:00 AM EDT
The container ship Regula headed out of Port Everglades near Miami early one September morning to run another load of cargo past President Donald Trump’s blockade of Cuba.
It was the 18th trip by the Regula to the port of Mariel this year, part of a flotilla of ships the Trump administration is allowing to make runs to Cuba from the US. Cargo ships have made over 200 trips to the island, loaded with goods like fuel, solar panels, frozen chicken, rice, appliances, trucks, cars, auto parts, and motorcycles, previously unreported trade data shows.
The US trade boom contrasts sharply with Trump’s aggressive campaign to force Cuba’s communist regime from power via a fuel blockade and squeezing the island’s biggest trade and investment partners. The president’s threats — including a dramatic expansion of sanctions on commerce with Cuba — led at least two major shipping companies to shut down cargo shipments. That’s stranded 7,000 containers from other countries at ports in Jamaica, Panama and Colombia, the Cuban government said.
But for Americans, especially in Cuban-immigrant heavy Miami, Trump is clearing the widest path in at least three decades through the embargo that President John F. Kennedy imposed soon after Fidel Castro seized power in 1959. The US is now trying to use exports to make Cuba financially dependent on Washington — essentially taking the place of the Soviet Union during the Cold War and Venezuela more recently.
Regula Is One of Dozens of Vessels Running Past Trump’s Cuba Blockade
*Sources: Bloomberg News analysis of S&P Global Energy and WoodMac data
Note: Vessel movements as of Sept. 10.*
The Trump administration is allowing increased trade with the island’s nascent private sector to head off a humanitarian and immigration crisis, as well as to displace the Cuban government as the country’s primary supplier of goods and services, according to a person familiar with the strategy who requested anonymity to discuss sensitive matters.
!Lianys Torres Rivera stands with her arms crossed in the hallway of the Cuban embassy, wearing glasses and a red-and-black dress.
*Lianys Torres Rivera, Cuba’s ambassador to the US. Photographer: Pete Kiehart/Bloomberg*
Lianys Torres Rivera, Cuba’s top diplomat in Washington, said US imports are helping ease acute shortages caused by Trump’s pressure campaign — but it’s far from enough. “Look, it’s positive,” she said in an interview. “But the United States should not restrict any imports to Cuba.”
The White House referred questions to the State Department, which said in an emailed statement that the US is one of the top exporters of food and humanitarian goods to Cuba because the island’s government isn’t meeting “the basic needs” of its people.
“US sanctions target the regime’s sources of revenue, its elites, and insiders, while maintaining important humanitarian exceptions such as for the export of food and medical goods,” a State Department spokesperson said.
The Commerce Department, which issues Cuba export controls, didn’t respond to requests for comment.
As of late August, the US flotilla had delivered nearly 720 million pounds of goods to Cuba from Miami, Houston, New Orleans, Jacksonville, Wilmington and other ports. Exports to Cuba are up 60% through July compared with the same period last year and more than all of 2024, US Census data show.
Dozens of companies are using a loophole called “Support for the Cuban People” to pack ships with more containers of goods, with the average load destined for Cuba on the Regula doubling this year. The carveout was designed for Miami’s Cuban diaspora to send care packages to friends and family back home, but enterprising entrepreneurs have scaled it up under Trump. And the US is allowing some cargo that’s piled up across the Caribbean because of Trump’s crackdown to be rerouted to the island through US ports instead.
Seaborne Exports to Cuba Are on Track for a Record Year
More than $650M worth of goods have been shipped to Cuba from US ports so far this year, nearly half of them from Port Everglades in Florida
Why did this happen?
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For more information you can review our Terms of Service and Cookie Policy.
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Block reference ID:70b40d03-b8f7-11f1-b2ae-09c26e78fe84
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Tags:#كوبا#العقوبات الأمريكية#التجارة الخارجية#ترامب#الحصار#التصدير
Source: Bloomberg
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