President Donald Trump said that the US was engaging with Cuba, and called for the country to be made “free again.”

“We’re starting to talk to Cuba,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on Saturday. “It doesn’t have to be a humanitarian crisis. I think they probably would come to us and want to make a deal. So Cuba would be free again.”

Trump did not provide details on what the US hoped to achieve in the negotiations or who was leading the American delegation. The White House has been attempting to increase economic pressure on Havana by cutting off Cuba from Mexican and Venezuelan oil. 

Mexico City decided to cut oil sales to Havana over fear of reprisals from Washington. 

The Wall Street Journal reported last week that the White House is now “searching for Cuban government insiders who can help cut a deal to push out the Communist regime by the end of the year.”

Secretary of State and National Security Adviser Marco Rubio is a long-time advocate for American regime change in Cuba. Trump recently posted on Truth Social that Rubio could be the President of Cuba.