Donald Trump has raised the possibility of a "friendly takeover of Cuba" as he ramped up pressure on the communist regime in Havana.

The US president made the comments to reporters before leaving the White House to deliver remarks in Corpus Christi, Texas before traveling to Florida to spend the weekend at his Mar-a-Lago resort. He said: "The Cuban government is talking with us. They’re in a big deal of trouble, as you know. They have no money, no anything right now. Maybe we’ll have a friendly takeover of Cuba. We could very well end up having a friendly takeover of Cuba."

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