According to press reports, most observers do not expect the longstanding U.S. trade embargo against Cuba to change despite President Fidel Castro’s announcement this week that he is resigning from that position. Although the news prompted opponents of the embargo to again urge that it be lifted, Bush administration officials have so far given no indication that such a step is under consideration. Key lawmakers, however, said they will be holding hearings to review U.S. policy toward Cuba and working on legislation that could change it.
Statements by administration officials suggest that the White House first wants evidence of a transition to democracy in Cuba before it will entertain the possibility of easing the embargo. Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte said this week that he “can't imagine that [lifting the embargo] happening anytime soon.” U.S. businesses acknowledge that this is the reality at the moment, according to press accounts, but believe Castro’s resignation opens the door to a U.S. policy change in the longer term. Prospects for such a development will likely depend in large part on the outcome of this fall’s presidential and congressional elections.
Meanwhile, many U.S. lawmakers are continuing to press the administration to start backing off its hard line. A Feb. 19 letter to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice from a bipartisan group of over 100 members of the House said that “a complete review of U.S. policy is clearly in order now.” That policy is enshrined in the so-called Helms-Burton Act enacted in 1996, which codifies the trade embargo and sets out specific criteria for lifting it. That law is likely to be among the topics of discussion at congressional hearings on U.S. policy toward Cuba that are expected in the coming months.
Legislative efforts to liberalize U.S.-Cuba relations and increase opportunities for bilateral trade have increased in recent years, although as yet there has been no serious effort to remove the embargo. One of the more significant measures was a law passed in 2000 that allowed sales of U.S. agricultural products to Cuba. That law was undermined by a 2005 Treasury Department regulation that requires such shipments to be paid for in full before leaving U.S. ports. Nevertheless, press reports say, U.S. farm goods exports to Cuba reached an estimated $437 million in 2007.
In July 2007 Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., and others introduced the Promoting American Agricultural and Medical Exports to Cuba Act of 2007, which seeks to overturn the Treasury rules. Baucus said in a Feb. 19 statement that he is working with other senators to move this bill forward this year.
World Trade/Interactive
