Trump Changes Obama Cuba Policy: To Limit Travel, Restrict Business with Military
Local Editor
US President Donald Trump on Friday will announce a plan to tighten rules on Americans traveling to Cuba and significantly restrict US companies from doing business with Cuban enterprises controlled by the military.
The news, reported by senior White House officials on Thursday, added that Trump will lay out his new Cuba policy in a speech in Miami that will roll back parts of former President Barack Obama's opening to the communist-ruled island after a 2014 diplomatic breakthrough between the two former Cold War foes.
Taking a tougher approach against Havana after promising to do so during the presidential campaign, Trump will outline stricter enforcement of an existing ban on Americans going to Cuba as tourists and will seek to prevent US dollars from being used to fund what the new US administration sees as a ‘repressive military-dominated government.'
Trump's new policy will ban most US business deals with the Armed Forces Business Enterprises Group [GAESA], a sprawling conglomerate involved in all sectors of the economy, but make exceptions related to air and sea travel, the officials said. This will essentially shield US airlines and cruise lines now serving the island.
But even as he curbs Obama's détente with Cuba, Trump will stop short of closing embassies or breaking off diplomatic relations restored in 2015 after more than five decades of hostility, US officials said.
He will also leave in place some other tangible measures implemented by his Democratic predecessor, including the resumption of direct US-Cuba commercial flights, though Trump's more restrictive policy seems certain to dampen new economic ties overall.
And, according to one White House official, the administration does not intend to "disrupt" existing business deals such as one struck under Obama by Starwood Hotels, which is owned by Marriott International Inc, to manage a historic Havana hotel.
There are also no plans to reinstate the limits that Obama lifted on the amount of the island's coveted rum and cigars that American can bring home for personal use, one White House official said.
As a result, the changes - though far-reaching - appear to be less sweeping than many pro-engagement advocates had feared.
Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team
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