Europe's far-right leaders applaud Trump and downplay threat of possible US tariffs

MADRID (AP) — Europe's far-right leaders applauded U.S. President Donald Trump's agenda and spoke of the turning point it presented Europe at an event Saturday organized by Spain’s Vox party in Madrid under the banner "Make Europe Great Again.”

Those gathered included Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, Italy's Deputy Premier Matteo Salvini, French National Rally party leader Marine Le Pen and others.

Salvini and Vox president Santiago Abascal downplayed Trump's threat to hike tariffs on European imports, saying that the European Union’s taxes and regulations are a bigger danger to Europe's prosperity.

“The great tariff is the Green Deal and the confiscatory taxes of Brussels and socialist governments across Europe,” said Abascal.

Salvini referenced the “historic opportunity” ahead of Germany's Feb. 23 election, in which the far-right Alternative for Germany party is polling in second place, behind center-right opposition leader Friedrich Merz’s Union bloc.

“The engine of Europe has come to a halt in the face of the most disastrous government of the post-war period," Salvini said of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz's government.

The defense of Europe's borders against illegal immigration was another topic touched on by every speaker at the two-day event, even though irregular border crossings into the European Union fell sharply in 2024, according to data collected by the bloc’s border control agency Frontex.

Le Pen said that Trump's election triumph put Europe before a “real change,” and said that the EU had left the continent at the margins of ongoing technological revolutions in artificial intelligence and other realms.

She also said that it was the European leaders present at the gathering, whose Patriots for Europe group has 84 seats in the European Parliament, who had the best chance of communicating and working with Trump.

“We are the only ones that can talk with the new Trump administration,” Le Pen said.

A Spanish flag and a Spanish far-right VOX party flag are waved during the far-right Patriots for Europe summit in Madrid, Spain, Saturday, Feb. 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Paul White)

Spanish far-right VOX party leader Santiago Abascal, centre, waves next to European far-right politicians during the Patriots for Europe summit in Madrid, Spain, Saturday, Feb. 8, 2025. Front row from left, Italy's vice Premier Matteo Salvini, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, far-right VOX party leader Santiago Abascal, French far-right leader Marine Le Pen and Dutch far right wing politician Geert Wilders.(AP Photo/Paul White)

French far-right leader Marine Le Pen, centre, arrives with far-right VOX party leader Santiago Abascal, left and Italy's vice Premier Matteo Salvini, centre top at the Patriots for Europe summit in Madrid, Spain, Saturday, Feb. 8, 2025. AP Photo/Paul White)

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, left, far-right VOX party leader Santiago Abascal, centre and French far-right leader Marine Le Pen take part in the Patriots for Europe summit in Madrid, Spain, Saturday, Feb. 8, 2025. AP Photo/Paul White)

Spanish far-right VOX party leader Santiago Abascal, centre, waves next to European far-right politicians during the Patriots for Europe summit in Madrid, Spain, Saturday, Feb. 8, 2025. From left, Italy's vice Premier Matteo Salvini, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, far-right VOX party leader Santiago Abascal and French far-right leader Marine Le Pen. (AP Photo/Paul White)

Spanish far-right VOX party leader Santiago Abascal, centre, sits with European far-right politicians during Patriots for Europe summit in Madrid, Spain, Saturday, Feb. 8, 2025. From left, Italy's vice Premier Matteo Salvini, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, far-right VOX party leader Santiago Abascal, French far-right leader Marine Le Pen and Dutch far right wing politician Geert Wilders.(AP Photo/Paul White)

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — President Donald Trump on Sunday fired off another warning to the government of Cuba as the close ally of Venezuela braces for potential widespread unrest after Nicolás Maduro was deposed as Venezuela's leader.

Cuba, a major beneficiary of Venezuelan oil, has now been cut off from those shipments as U.S. forces continue to seize tankers in an effort to control the production, refining and global distribution of the country's oil products.

Trump said on social media that Cuba long lived off Venezuelan oil and money and had offered security in return, “BUT NOT ANYMORE!”

“THERE WILL BE NO MORE OIL OR MONEY GOING TO CUBA - ZERO!” Trump said in the post as he spent the weekend at his home in southern Florida. “I strongly suggest they make a deal, BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE.” He did not explain what kind of deal.

The Cuban government said 32 of its military personnel were killed during the American operation last weekend that captured Maduro. The personnel from Cuba’s two main security agencies were in Caracas, the Venezuelan capital, as part of an agreement between Cuba and Venezuela.

“Venezuela doesn’t need protection anymore from the thugs and extortionists who held them hostage for so many years,” Trump said Sunday. “Venezuela now has the United States of America, the most powerful military in the World (by far!), to protect them, and protect them we will.”

Trump also responded to another account’s social media post predicting that his secretary of state, Marco Rubio, will be president of Cuba: “Sounds good to me!” Trump said.

Trump and top administration officials have taken an increasingly aggressive tone toward Cuba, which had been kept economically afloat by Venezuela. Long before Maduro's capture, severe blackouts were sidelining life in Cuba, where people endured long lines at gas stations and supermarkets amid the island’s worst economic crisis in decades.

Trump has said previously that the Cuban economy, battered by years of a U.S. embargo, would slide further with the ouster of Maduro.

“It’s going down,” Trump said of Cuba. “It’s going down for the count.”

A person watches the oil tanker Ocean Mariner, Monrovia, arrive to the bay in Havana, Cuba, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

President Donald Trump attends a meeting with oil executives in the East Room of the White House, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)