USA eases restrictions on companies seeking to do business in Cuba

Last week, Obama renewed for another year the so-called Trading with the Enemy Act which imposes the economic embargo on Cuba, in order to maintain his executive authority to ease sanctions on the island as part of the normalization process.

“Today’s announcement underscores the Administration’s commitment to promote constructive change for the Cuban people“, Treasury Secretary Jack Lew wrote in a statement released early Friday morning.

“By additional easing these sanctions, america helps to help the Cuban individuals of their effort to realize the political and financial freedom needed to construct a democratic, affluent, and secure Cuba”, he stated.

He is the first Cuban ambassador to the U.S. since Washington severed relations with the Latin American Communist state in 1961. Cuba’s mostly weak people of 11 m has… “Our regulations do not have to change”. They can open bank accounts; do business with Americans outside of Cuba, and Cuban companies providing air and sea travel services to their home country now have to deal with fewer restrictions.

The rules also would allow US companies to sell building materials, equipment and tools to private individuals and builders’ cooperatives that are springing up around Havana. US venture capitalists consider Cuba a fantastic investment that’s just waiting to flourish. In a long diplomatic career, Cabanas has also been Cuba’s envoy to Austria and was a foreign affairs vice-minister.

“I think it’s great”, said Gonzalo Perez, 69. Congress could demand some reforms in exchange for lifting the embargo, but Obama’s pressure is undermining what little leverage they have left. The USA and Cuban governments haven’t said if Messrs.

What’s commonly known as the trade embargo on Cuba is still on the books, as it has been for some five decades. “It begins to give them some real commercial traction”.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., said allowing companies to have a physical presence in Cuba was a major step, making it far easier, for example, for the agricultural exporters from her state that provide $20 million in food aid to streamline their operations. These steps will open that door further.

What’s more, Americans will be allowed to hire Cuban software developers and bring their mobile apps into the United States.

Officials cautioned that the effect of the looser regulations depends partly on buy-in from the Cuban government. They also eliminate limits on the amount of money people can send back to the Caribbean nation. These ships are only allowed to remain in the country for up to 14 consecutive days.

President Barack Obama appealed to US businessmen in a meeting Wednesday to press members of Congress to lift the U.S.-Cuba embargo.

Supporters of the policy shift welcomed the looser regulations. “‘To allow this all at once, is massive”.

In July, US food exports to Cuba were down by more than 8 percent from the year before, according to the U.S.-Cuba Trade and Economic Council.