DEMOCRATIC presidential hopeful Tulsi Gabbard mocked the Trump administration today after new travel restrictions were imposed on US citizens visiting Cuba, including a ban on US cruise ships.

The congresswoman for Hawaii accused Mr Trump of “taking away Americans’ freedom” in the name of freedom after the White House announcement yesterday.

Under the new measures cruise ships by organised tours will be prohibited from stopping in Cuba — the most common way for US citizens to visit the island.

US Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said the restrictions were being imposed due to Cuba’s “destabilising role in the Western Hemisphere, providing a communist foothold in the region and propping up US adversaries in places like Venezuela and Nicaragua by fomenting instability, undermining the rule of law, and suppressing democratic processes.”

Ms Gabbard suggested that the ban was absurd, saying: “Basically Americans will no longer be free to travel to Cuba, because Cuba is a communist country and therefore its people are not free.

“So now the Trump administration, in the name of freedom, is taking away Americans’ freedom. Make sense?”

Cuban Minister of Foreign Affairs Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla called the new restrictions “an attack on international law.”