Cuba and Unilateral Sanctions

The United States has maintained an embargo on trade with Cuba since October 1960.  Implemented to pressure the Castro regime to democratize, these unilateral sanctions have completely failed to achieve their objective.  The U.S. Chamber has long argued that unilateral sanctions do not work.  Too often, they serve to make a martyr of a tyrant and actually help prop up authoritarian regimes.  Unilateral sanctions also isolate the United States from its allies while denying U.S. companies access to markets in which third-country firms can do business easily.

Nonetheless, progress has been made in recent years toward an easing of some unilateral restrictions on trade with Cuba.  The Cuban government conducted negotiations with the United States to purchase food and agricultural products under a 2000 law that permits U.S. exports of food and medicine to the island.  Since then, the Cuban government has used cash to buy U.S. farm goods, as the law does not permit private sector financing of the sales.  These sales represent the first direct commercial agricultural exports from the United States to Cuba since 1963.  The U.S. Chamber supports efforts to broaden economic engagement with the island in the belief that additional commercial and people-to-people contacts will promote a transition to democracy and full civil liberties.

For more information on the Chamber's Cuba policy initiatives, contact Dawson Law.