> A tariff is a tax that a country imposes on goods entering its borders.

Yes. And that is not what happens here!

None of this oil is entering the US at all!

Correct. But the point remains, the US is free to impose a tariff on countries that sell oil to Cuba.

So it's not "a tax that a country imposes on goods entering its borders" now?

It seems fairly obvious that what happens is a tariff is applied to the items entering the US and not the oil going to Cuba.

If you trade oil with cuba, then any trade with the US will be subject to the tariff.

Manuel_D 4 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

No, a tariff is indeed a tax a country imposes on goods entering its borders.

I'm not sure what in my comment you think contradicts this.

> The ships being seized are doing things like flying false flags, to try and trade with Cuba without paying tariffs.

	▲	Manuel_D 4 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Yes, they fly false flags to avoid triggering retaliatory tariffs. If country X sells oil to Cuba than country X's goods being imported to the the US will be subject to additional tariffs. I can see how this wording makes it sound like the US is charging a tariff on the oil entering Cuba, but that is not the case. The tariff in that quote is referring to the tariffs the US is promising to place on counties that don't participate in the embargo.