What's next for Cuba after Venezuela?
Marketplace Morning Report
Marketplace
4.5 • 927 Ratings
🗓️ 22 January 2026
⏱️ 8 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Following the president's intervention in Venezuela, the Trump administration is escalating threats against several sovereign nations. Now, Cuba is set to lose access to one of its main suppliers of oil, adding pressure to its increasing energy shortage and an already struggling economy. This morning, we'll discuss with the BBC's Will Grant. Plus, President Donald Trump’s pivot on Greenland was well-received on Wall Street, and renter affordability is improving.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | President Trump's 270-degree turn on Greenland was well-received by players in financial markets. |
| 0:08.8 | I'm David Brancaccio in Los Angeles. On Tuesday, the S&P 500 fell more than 2% amid the president's threats of new tariffs on European countries that object to the U.S. taking Greenland. |
| 0:22.7 | But then, a new day, Wednesday, |
| 0:29.4 | when all the main stock market indicators, including the S&P, went up 1.2%. Investors were watching Trump closely as he spoke yesterday at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Stocks popped |
| 0:35.5 | after the president wrote in a social media post that he and the Secretary |
| 0:39.4 | General of NATO had hammered out a framework for a future deal on Greenland, and he would not |
| 0:44.9 | impose the tariffs he had threatened on eight NATO members starting February 1st. Trump had announced |
| 0:50.5 | those new import taxes over the weekend, leading to a sharp market sell-off earlier |
| 0:55.3 | this week. Traders also dumped U.S. bonds, causing Treasury yields to increase. When yields rise, |
| 1:01.9 | they push up borrowing costs for U.S. consumers and the federal government. |
| 1:06.2 | I'm Nancy Marshall Genser for Marketplace. |
| 1:09.1 | After U.S. forces seized the leader of Venezuela and his government moved to fall in line with U.S. |
| 1:14.6 | interests, the administration is now upping pressure on Communist Party ruled Cuba. |
| 1:20.0 | The Cuban economy is a persistent mess, and Venezuela had been a key source of its oil. |
| 1:25.2 | The BBC's Will Grant is just back to his base in Mexico from Cuba. |
| 1:29.7 | Will, welcome. It's a pleasure, David. You were just in Cuba on a reporting assignment. I mean, |
| 1:36.2 | broad brush, not enough energy to meet needs. Can you see it play out? Yeah, you can. You can see it |
| 1:42.6 | play out in real time. I mean, the rolling blackouts in Havana alone, and then add on top of that in the wake |
| 1:49.4 | of the removal of Nicholas Maduro from power, the force removal, the outlook looks even |
| 1:54.5 | bleaker for Cubans because they are contemplating the very real possibility of the tap |
| 2:00.1 | of Venezuelan crude being switched off, |
| 2:02.2 | and that Venezuelan crude has, to all intents and purposes, propped up the Cuban Revolution |
... |
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