(REUTERS) – U.S. President Donald Trump threatened new tariffs late on Thursday on countries supplying oil to Cuba, escalating a pressure campaign against the Communist-run island and long-time foe of the United States.

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Trump said the measure was necessary to protect “U.S. national security and foreign policy from the Cuban regime’s malign actions and policies.”

Cuba’s president Miguel Diaz-Canel shot back on Friday morning, calling Trump’s arguments unfounded.

“This new measure demonstrates the fascist, criminal and genocidal nature of a cabal that has hijacked the interests of the American people for purely personal gain,” Diaz-Canel said.

Cuba’s state-run media on Thursday evening warned the order would paralyze electricity generation, agricultural production, water supply and health services on an island already suffering a crippling economic crisis.

“All spheres of life will be suffocated by the U.S. government,” Cuba’s government said in a statement on the nightly TV newscast.

Trump has used tariff threats as a foreign policy tool throughout his second term in office.