Mexico City, Mexico - Mexico's President Claudia Sheinbaum said Wednesday her government stood ready to mediate between the US and Cuba, under growing pressure from Washington after the ouster of key ally Nicolás Maduro.

Sheinbaum told reporters Mexico was "fully prepared to be a vehicle for fostering dialogue" between the US and communist-run Cuba.

Trump on Sunday warned Cuba to "make a deal" – the nature of which he did not reveal – or face consequences.

The Republican president, who says Washington is now effectively "running" Venezuela, earlier vowed to cut off all oil and money Caracas had been providing to its troubled ally.

Mexico Mexico's Sheinbaum seeks closer ties with US after Trump's latest threat

Cuba, which is struggling through its worst economic crisis in decades, has reacted defiantly to the US threats even as it reels from the loss of a key source of economic support.

Sheinbaum told reporters both Washington and Havana would have to agree to mediation and the conditions under which talks would occur.

Cubans, she added, had the right to "decide their own destiny."

Asked whether the continued shipment of Mexican oil and derivatives to Cuba risked provoking tensions with Trump, the president said: "Mexico is a sovereign country, and Mexico makes its own decisions."

Last Friday, a tanker with 85,000 barrels of Mexican crude arrived in Havana, according to an industry expert at the University of Texas.

The state-owned Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex) would not confirm the shipment.

Sheinbaum has walked a diplomatic tightrope with Trump, who has repeatedly threatened her country with tariff hikes since he took office for a second term last January.

In September, Pemex reported to the US Securities and Exchange Commission it had been sending oil to Cuba since 2023 – 17,200 barrels of crude and 2,000 of derivatives in the first nine months of 2025.

Sheinbaum had also offered to mediate a peaceful resolution to a months-long standoff between Caracas and Washington, which instead launched strikes on Venezuela on January 3 and toppled leader Nicolás Maduro.