Minnesota Democratic U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar at the U.S. Embassy in Cuba. Photo courtesy of Klobuchar’s congressional office.
By Gary Raynaldo DIPLOMATIC TIMES
U.S. Senators Jerry Moran (R-Kan.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) introduced major bipartisan legislation to lift the Cuba trade embargo. The Freedom to Export to Cuba Act would eliminate the legal barriers to Americans doing business in Cuba and pave the way for new economic opportunities by boosting U.S. exports and allowing Cubans greater access to American goods, according to the legislation. On May 19, the senators introduced a bill that would allow the U.S. to export goods to Cuba for the first time since 1961.
“Instead of looking to the future, U.S.-Cuba policy has been defined for far too long by conflicts of the past. As we work to rebuild our economy following the pandemic, lifting the trade embargo will open the door to a large export market and create jobs in the U.S. It’s time to turn the page on the failed policy of isolation by passing our bipartisan legislation to end the embargo once and for all.”
said Sen. Klobuchar.
Sen. Moran Says Lifting Cuba Embargo Would Benefit American Farmers
“The unilateral trade embargo on Cuba blocks our own farmers, ranchers and manufacturers from selling into a market only 90 miles from our shoreline, while foreign competitors such as China benefit at our expense,” said Sen. Moran. “This legislation will expand market opportunities for U.S. producers by allowing them to compete on a level playing field with other countries. It is time to amend our own laws to give U.S. producers fair access to market to consumers in Cuba.”
Cuba relies on agriculture imports to feed the 11 million people who live in Cuba and the approximately four million tourists who visited in 2019, prior to the pandemic, the senators said. The U.S. International Trade Commission found that if restrictions on trade with Cuba had been lifted, exports like wheat, rice, corn and soybeans could increase by 166 percent within five years to a total of about $800 million, according to the senators. The Freedom to Export to Cuba Act repeals the current legal restrictions against doing business with Cuba, including the original 1961 authorization for establishing the trade embargo; subsequent laws that required enforcement of the embargo; and other restrictive statutes that prohibit transactions between U.S.-owned or controlled firms and Cuba and limitations on direct shipping between U.S. and Cuban ports.
The legislation has been endorsed by Engage Cuba, the Washington Office on Latin America, and the Latin America Working Group.
