--- title: Donald Trump: Cuba Deal Might Be nixed description: President-elect Donald Trump threatened Monday to distance the U.S. from Cuba if the Cuban government refuses to "make a better deal" canonical: https://time.com/4583419/donald-trump-cuba-fidel-castro/ author: Maya Rhodan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-11-28T15:19:07.000Z article:modified_time: 2023-12-13T15:29:24.000Z article:section: Politics og:title: Donald Trump Threatens to 'Terminate' Cuba Deal og:description: "If Cuba is unwilling to make a better deal" og:url: https://time.com/4583419/donald-trump-cuba-fidel-castro/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9a6f35a38d2dd5b4/6988afab656a3f5a0cbcdf75/gettyimages-624646266.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4271 og:image:height: 2402 og:image:alt: Donald Trump Holds Weekend Meetings In Bedminster, NJ og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Donald Trump Threatens to 'Terminate' Cuba Deal twitter:description: "If Cuba is unwilling to make a better deal" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9a6f35a38d2dd5b4/6988afab656a3f5a0cbcdf75/gettyimages-624646266.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Donald Trump Threatens to 'Terminate' Cuba Deal > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Updated: Dec 13, 2023 3:29 PM UTCPublished: Nov 28, 2016 3:19 PM UTC  President-elect Donald Trump stands outside the clubhouse at Trump International Golf Club, Nov. 20, 2016 in Bedminster Township, New Jersey. President-elect Donald Trump stands outside the clubhouse at Trump International Golf Club, Nov. 20, 2016 in Bedminster Township, New Jersey. Drew Angerer—Getty Images by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Updated: Dec 13, 2023 3:29 PM UTCPublished: Nov 28, 2016 3:19 PM UTC [President-elect Donald Trump](http://time.com/tag/donald-trump/) threatened Monday to distance the U.S. from Cuba if the Cuban government refuses to “make a better deal” than the agreement President Obama struck to normalize relations between the countries. His comments put the future of the relationship in doubt just days after [the death of longtime Cuban strongman Fidel Castro](http://time.com/4582621/fidel-castro-dies-cuba-legacy/). “If Cuba is unwilling to make a better deal for the Cuban people, the Cuban/American people and the U.S. as a whole, I will terminate deal,” Trump said on Twitter. Obama worked to restore diplomatic relations with Cuba late into his term in office. Under the new terms, Americans can travel freely to Cuba and bring some Cuban goods to the U.S. However, aides to Trump have hinted there could be a reversal of that policy. “There’s going to have to be some movement from Cuba in order to have a relationship with the United States,” Reince Priebus, Trump’s incoming White House Chief of Staff, said on _Fox News Sunday_. He cited freeing political prisoners and ensuring religious and political freedom as important steps. “We’ve got to have a better deal,” he said. White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said Monday that the death of Fidel Castro will not impact the efforts to normalize relations between the two nations. “I wouldn’t expect any impact on the kind of progress that we’re committed to making on our end to begin normalizing relations with Cuba,” Earnest said. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4583419/donald-trump-cuba-fidel-castro/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4583419/donald-trump-cuba-fidel-castro/"},"headline":"Donald Trump Threatens to 'Terminate' Cuba Deal","datePublished":"2016-11-28T15:19:07.000Z","dateModified":"2023-12-13T15:29:24.000Z","description":"\"If Cuba is unwilling to make a better deal\"","url":"https://time.com/4583419/donald-trump-cuba-fidel-castro/","keywords":["Donald Trump","Cuba","Fidel Castro"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9a6f35a38d2dd5b4/6988afab656a3f5a0cbcdf75/gettyimages-624646266.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Maya Rhodan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9a6f35a38d2dd5b4/6988afab656a3f5a0cbcdf75/gettyimages-624646266.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Donald Trump Holds Weekend Meetings In Bedminster, NJ","caption":"Donald Trump Holds Weekend Meetings In Bedminster, NJ","creditText":"Drew Angerer—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/donald-trump/","name":"Donald Trump"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4583419/donald-trump-cuba-fidel-castro/","name":"Donald Trump Threatens to 'Terminate' Cuba Deal"}}]}] ```