US President Donald Trump on Thursday threatened new tariffs on countries supplying oil to Cuba, escalating a pressure campaign against the Communist-run island.
The move, authorized by an executive order under a national emergency declaration, did not specify any tariff rates or single out any countries whose products could face US tariffs.
Cuba's state-run media shot back shortly after Trump's announcement, warning that the order threatened to paralyze electricity generation, agricultural production, water supply and health services on an island already suffering a crippling economic crisis.
"What is the goal? A genocide of the Cuban people," Cuba's government said in a statement on the nightly TV newscast. "All spheres of life will be suffocated by the US government."
Emboldened by the US military's seizure of ousted Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in a deadly raid earlier this month, Trump has repeatedly talked of acting against Cuba and pressuring its leadership.
Trump: 'Cuba will be failing soon'
Trump said this week that "Cuba will be failing pretty soon," adding that Venezuela, once the island's top oil supplier, has not recently sent oil or money to Cuba.
Trump has used tariff threats as a foreign policy tool throughout his second term in office.
Cuba's president, Miguel Diaz-Canel, said this month that Washington had no moral authority to force a deal on Cuba after Trump suggested the Communist-run island should strike an agreement with the US.