Trump Renews World War I Law to Sanction Cuba

Donald Trump renewed U.S. sanctions on Cuba last week under the Trading with the Enemy Act (TWEA), a 1917 law designed to cut off trade with Germany during World War I. Cuba is the only country in the world still subject to sanctions under the century-old law.

Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla said TWEA’s extension is confirmation that the Trump administration intends to keep suffocating the country at the "cruelest moment" of the U.S. economic war on Cuba.

The law has now been invoked against Cuba every year since 1963 by both Democratic and Republican administrations. Trump signed the same extension in August 2025, and Biden did so in September 2024.

The law serves as one of the primary legal underpinnings for the U.S. embargo (referred to as the “blockade” in Cuba), which constitutes the most comprehensive sanctions regime imposed by any country on another in modern history. 

Read our article on the Trading with the Enemy Act HERE.