United States President Donald Trump is considering significantly rolling back steps his predecessor, Barack Obama, took to normalise relations between the US and Cuba, according to multiple reports citing anonymous US government officials.
From December 2014 until days before he left office, Mr. Obama implemented measures to liberalise trade and immigration between the two countries, including easing travel restrictions to Cuba and lifting restrictions on importing certain items from there. He also ended the longstanding US policy towards Cuba known as “wet foot, dry foot,” which allowed Cubans who reached US soil a fast-track to citizenship.
But Mr. Trump reportedly could reverse those measures as early as this month on the grounds that the Cuban government continues to commit significant human rights violations against its citizens.
Restrictions?
According to The New York Times, one of the measures Mr. Trump is considering is a policy to block transactions between American companies and firms that have ties to the Cuban military.
“Such a restriction could have far-reaching consequences for existing deals, such as the one struck by Starwood Hotels and Resorts last year to manage hotels in Cuba — one of which is owned by the military conglomerate Gaviota — and effectively freeze future ones, since the military in Cuba has a hand in virtually every element of the economy,” the Times reported on May 31.
The Trump administration is also considering forcing US citizens who want to travel to Cuba to provide evidence that their trip falls under one of the 12 allowed reasons, such as for educational or cultural purposes, according to the Times.
Such reversals would presumably be welcomed by the Republican Party, which called Mr. Obama’s “opening to Cuba a shameful accommodation to the demands of its tyrants” in its party platform last July.
Diplomatic ties
However, the Times reported that Mr. Trump will not likely implement all the changes sought by the “Cuba hard-liners,” who have called for him to cut off all diplomatic ties with Cuba unless the country quickly schedules democratic elections, institutes an independent judiciary, and shows progress on settling American financial claims and returning American fugitives to the US.
A report published last month by Engage Cuba — a Washington DC-based coalition of private companies, organisations and local leaders that advocates for lifting the US embargo — estimates that American companies would lose $6.6 billion and more than 12,000 US jobs over Mr. Trump’s first term if he reversed all of Mr. Obama’s liberalising measures.
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