The Trump administration is damaging relations with our allies again, this time over Cuba:

The Trump administration will announce on Wednesday a big shift in policy toward Cuba by allowing U.S. individuals to file legal claims against foreign companies that conduct business in Cuba, a senior administration official told POLITICO.

The move represents a new hard-line stance against the island nation, which has been accused of providing assistance to the embattled regime of Venezuela’s Maduro government.

A law on the books has long been delayed by previous administrations through waivers. Enforcing it could exacerbate trade tensions with allies like Canada and the European Union, which have had companies doing business in Cuba for years.

Trump is throwing another bone to the hard-liners that have been driving U.S. Cuba and Venezuela policy, and in the process he is creating yet another rift with our major allies and trading partners. The U.S. once again stands to gain nothing from this, and American companies are likely to pay the price of the administration’s policies. Exposing European and Canadian companies to these lawsuits just invites retaliation against American companies, and the EU is already threatening to penalize American firms:

The European Union is threatening to sue the U.S. at the World Trade Organization and warning of economic penalties against U.S. firms if Washington extends sanctions against Cuba in ways that could hit European companies.

U.S.-European ties are already strained because of the administration’s Iran policy, and this threatens to strain them further. One former U.S. official marveled at the sheer stupidity of the move:

This is exceptionally stupid even by current degraded standards. Europe firms can simply countersue in European courts. All that's achieved is to further damage our relationships with our most importantly Allies. And over Cuba! No, not even that. Over Cuba domestic politics! https://t.co/qXpu37o6ZJ

— Jarrett Blanc (@JarrettBlanc) April 16, 2019

This will achieve nothing in Cuba, and it will not force European governments to change their policies, but it will create endless headaches that could have been avoided. The timing of the announcement is appropriate for rolling out an ill-conceived policy that won’t work:

Bolton’s announcement coincides with the 58th anniversary of the failed Bay of Pigs invasion in Cuba. He’s scheduled to make his remarks at a Miami-area luncheon hosted by a group of Cuban-American Bay of Pigs survivors known as Brigade 2506, who are major backers of President Donald Trump and who campaigned with him in 2016.

It is quite fitting that revealing the newest part of the administration’s mindless Cuba policy should take place on the anniversary of such an interventionist debacle.