Cuba's government acknowledged on Friday that it is engaged in discussions with the Trump administration, President Miguel Díaz-Canel said in a statement circulated by Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla.
According to the readout posted on social media by Rodríguez Parrilla, Díaz-Canel framed the exchanges as efforts "aimed at seeking solutions, through dialogue, to bilateral differences that exist between the two nations." The Cuban president also pointed to external elements that have helped facilitate the conversations, saying "there are international factors that have facilitated these exchanges."
At a press conference on Friday, Díaz-Canel cautioned that negotiations of this sort are protracted undertakings that depend on mutual willingness and established channels to sustain dialogue. "All of that takes time," he said, a remark attributed to him in a report by CBS News.
The confirmation follows recent public comments from U.S. President Donald Trump about Cuba's prospects. Trump has renewed a warning about a potential "friendly takeover" of the island and has said Cuba is in "deep trouble." The president has also suggested Cuba could fall once Iran's regime is toppled, a remark reported earlier this month by Politico in which he stated, "Cuba's going to fall, too."
Havana is confronting a deteriorating economic picture. The Cuban government said the United States has imposed an oil blockade on the island since January, a move the country describes as having come shortly after its ally and principal oil supplier, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, was seized in an extraordinary military operation.
The readout and subsequent statements placed the bilateral conversations in the context of a broader pattern of assertive U.S. foreign policy actions toward adversarial regimes. The Trump administration has been described as pursuing aggressive measures, including the arrest of Maduro and military engagement alongside Israel in Iran that, according to the account in the earlier report, resulted in the death of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khomeini.
The Cuban government portrayed the talks as exploratory and solution-focused, while simultaneously signaling that any substantial progress will demand time and conducive diplomatic channels. For now, Havana stresses that international dynamics have aided in opening lines of communication but reiterates that successful negotiations are not immediate.