U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday threatened new tariffs on countries supplying oil to Cuba, escalating a pressure campaign against the island.

The move, authorized by an executive order under a national emergency declaration, did not specify any tariff rates or single out any countries whose products could face U.S. tariffs.

Trump said this week that "Cuba will be failing pretty soon," adding that Venezuela, once the island's top oil supplier, has not recently sent oil or money to Cuba.

Cuba's state-run media shot back shortly after Trump's announcement, warning that the order threatened to paralyze electricity generation, agricultural production, water supply and health services on an island already suffering a crippling economic crisis.

"What is the goal? A genocide of the Cuban people," Cuba's government said in a statement on the nightly TV newscast. "All spheres of life will be suffocated by the U.S. government."

'Hurricane is coming'

Cuba imports roughly 60 percent of its oil, with about one-third coming from Venezuela, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA). For years, Caracas has supplied Havana with subsidized crude under the "oil-for-doctors" arrangement, exchanging energy for medical services, technology and military cooperation.

Cuba's dependence on oil is structural. IEA data show that oil accounts for 83 percent of the country's power generation and 56 percent of its total energy consumption, fueling industry, transportation, agriculture and household use.

The situation worsened after the Trump administration began seizing sanctioned oil shipments from Venezuela. Pressure intensified further this week when Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum acknowledged that Mexican oil deliveries to Cuba had been temporarily suspended, although she stressed that Mexico's state oil company Pemex would continue honoring contracts and could provide oil for humanitarian purposes.

Cubans, who have lived under U.S. sanctions for decades, have faced acute shortages of food, medicine and fuel in recent years. Authorities have already rationed gasoline and imposed daily rolling blackouts amid dwindling oil supplies.

"The situation here is going to become very difficult," Rey Rodriguez, a butcher, told NBC News. "Imagine what awaits us – less oil, more blackouts."

According to the Financial Times, Cuba currently has only 15 to 20 days' worth of oil in reserve.

"If the oil valve is truly shut off, Cuba faces an inevitable economic collapse," energy analyst Jorge Piñón told NBC News. "No oil, no economy. The hurricane is coming."

Wang Yiwei, director of the Institute of International Affairs at Renmin University of China, said in the face of U.S. oil blockade, it is far from easy for Cuba to cope with its oil crisis. 

The United States exercises what it calls "maritime law enforcement" at sea, detaining oil tankers at will and relying on surveillance tools such as monitoring and GPS tracking, Wang said, adding that Cuba's situation is therefore complicated.

What's next? 

Trump has repeatedly used tariff threats as a foreign policy tool during his second term, and this case is no exception.

Wang said the tariff threat is aimed not only at Venezuela's new interim government but also serves as a warning to countries such as Brazil and Mexico, using trade pressure to force compliance. He described the move as a textbook example of extraterritorial, or "long-arm," jurisdiction.

Wang added that Washington may even consider establishing military bases in Venezuela in the future. Across the wider Caribbean – much as it has sought to exert control over Greenland in relation to Arctic shipping routes – the United States is focused on dominating strategic maritime corridors under the banner of security.

"These actions are not only about intimidating neighboring countries and consolidating U.S. hegemony in the Western Hemisphere," Wang said. "They also reflect long-term calculations to control key trade and security routes."

"In the Caribbean," Wang added, "the United States wants its neighbors to fear it, not respect it."

In Havana, former senior Cuban diplomat Carlos Alzugaray struck a more measured tone. "We need to see what repercussions this will have," he told NBC News. "But the world hasn't ended – not as Marco Rubio and Donald Trump would like to portray it."

(With input from agencies)