On May 1, 2026, in the indifference of Western governments, including its president, Donald Trump, increased the suffocation suffered by Cuba since January 3 by giving an ultimatum to all foreign businesses and banks operating in the country: they must leave or face a freeze on their financial operations, a ban on access to the US market, and astronomical sanctions from the Office of Foreign Assets Control, the US office of extraterritorial sanctions.
In other words: the blockade is an act of war against a sovereign country, but also against any business or country wanting to maintain commercial ties with Cuba. The effect is devastating. On May 7, the Canadian company Sherritt, a major player in the nickel sector (the country’s second resource after tourism), announced it would leave Cuba and repatriate all its employees. On May 18, the French maritime companies CMA CGM and German Hapag-Lloyd announced the suspension of container deliveries to Cuba. Companies are closing one after the other, leaving hundreds of employees and an entire society pushed to the brink of collapse.
If the blockade against Cuba is an act of war, and arguably the most inhumane and criminal act of US extraterritoriality, the commercial and economic aggressiveness of the world’s leading power is not new since Donald Trump came to power. US interference in the economic affairs of third countries is one of the privileged weapons to establish their domination and defend the interests of their companies at the international level.
Several US legislations directly apply to French and European companies. In the defense and space domain, for example, any non-US industrialist must comply with the regulations of Itar (International Traffic in Arms Regulations) and EAR (Export Administration Regulations). This results in dependence, pressures, and fines that can heavily penalize European companies.
Since 2019, a report from the National Assembly established by the LaREM deputy Raphaël Gauvain at the request of the then Prime Minister Edouard Philippe, called for action against the vulnerability of French companies and the fact that they are “hostages” to these US procedures, caught between a facade negotiation process, and aggravated by threats to access the US market – ultimately, they have no choice but to incriminate themselves by paying astronomical sums to the US Treasury. Since then, nothing has been done.
Are we truly powerless against the hegemony that the US would like to impose on the world? However, legal levers exist to circumvent this extraterritoriality, at the European level as well as the national level: European regulations against coercion, a law to strengthen anti-corruption measures, especially to cease extraterritorial judicial proceedings, known as Sapin 2, and the 1968 Blocking Law.
Why and how should France react? This is the question we have decided to ask with the Gabriel-Péri Foundation on Wednesday, May 27th, with speakers from various backgrounds but with one goal: to defend our sovereignty and international law against the threat the US poses to the world!
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