European companies from Spanish hotels to German shipping lines are ending their Cuban operations as Washington on Friday moved to intensify its decades-old embargo, expanding its focus from the regime in Havana to EU business ties to the island.

Axar.az reports, citing Politico, among the hardest hit are Spain’s Melia and Iberostar hotel groups. For decades, the lush resorts they operated on Cuba’s most idyllic beaches were the crown jewels of their global portfolios. But over the past few weeks, the hospitality giants pulled their management and branding from dozens of properties on the island, with Meliá citing an “evolving geopolitical, social, legal, and economic environment.”

The Spanish hotel groups’ exodus came just ahead of Friday’s rollout of severe new U.S. penalties targeting foreign companies that do business with Cuban state entities — especially the military-run GAESA conglomerate.

The sanctions package is part of U.S. President Donald Trump’s broader campaign to topple Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel’s regime, but it risks dragging the EU — the island’s largest trading partner and its main source of foreign investment — into the drama. Faced with the risk of asset freezes and exclusion from the U.S. financial system, European companies active in sectors ranging from shipping and logistics to energy and agriculture are desperately offloading their interests on the island and rushing for the exits.