US, Cuba Make Competing Policy Tweaks as Island Suffers Blackout

A tentative step by Cuba’s government to loosen its grip on the island’s economy as it struggles to provide basic services was met with tighter restrictions from President Donald Trump’s administration.

The US said Wednesday it wouldn’t allow fuel deals with the island’s emerging entrepreneurial sector to be brokered through Cuban banks after the nation’s communist government authorized private companies to partner with state-run enterprises.

With two thirds of the Caribbean nation of about 10 million people without power, the incremental measures on either side of the Florida Strait highlighted the difficult path ahead. Washington is trying to ...