Trump Hints at Rollback of Obama's Cuba Policies
President-elect Donald Trump hinted he would scale back the Obama administration’s normalization of relations with Cuba if its government doesn’t improve its treatment of citizens and act according to U.S. interests (here). Congressional Republicans echoed Trump’s conditional stance, expressing resolve to ensure that Cuba-focused economic policies are predicated on democratic reforms in the country in the days after former Cuban Prime Minister Fidel Castro died Nov. 25. In an apparent reference to Obama administration liberalization of economic relations with the nation over the past two years, Trump said he would terminate the U.S. “deal” with Cuba “if Cuba is unwilling to make a better deal for the Cuban people, the Cuban/American people and the U.S. as a whole.”
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Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., on Meet the Press Nov. 27 (here) said some of the Obama administration’s new banking regulations with respect to Cuba, which he said he believes were issued illegally, should be vetted in the light of behavior of the Cuban government, such as its harboring of a U.S. fugitive, and its laws toward freedom of expression and organization. The Office of Foreign Assets Control on Oct. 17 issued a final rule allowing U.S. persons engaged in obtaining newly authorized Food and Drug Administration pre-export approvals to open and maintain bank accounts at Cuban financial institutions to aid in those transactions (see 1610140049). OFAC in January also announced the rollback of financing restrictions for approved exports to Cuba (see 1601260015).
In a Nov. 15 statement (here), Rubio indicated he would work simultaneously with Trump to reverse “President Obama’s one-sided concessions to the Castro regime,” after Trump promised as much during his campaign. On Meet the Press, Rubio reiterated that he thinks Trump will maintain that priority as president. “We want to look at all the changes that were made,” Rubio said during the interview. “Everything should be guided by our goal. Our goal is not to punish [the Cuban people]. Our goal is to figure out what can we do through U.S. policy to, number one, look out for the national interests for the United States, and number two, to help create an environment where we are creating the potential for a transition to democratic order to Cuba at some point in the near future.”
Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., on Nov. 26 said (here) the U.S. can lawfully end its trade embargo against Cuba only after the “gulags are closed, elections are held, political prisoners are freed and liberty is restored,” adding: “The time to act is now.” Rep. Carlos Curbelo, R-Fla., on the same day said (here) the Obama administration’s “endless concessions to the regime over the past two years” haven’t persuaded the Castro regime to eschew “anti-American policies” and relationships with “brutal regimes” in other countries.
White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest on Nov. 28 challenged Obama critics’ use of the term “concessions” in their expressions of opposition to the liberalization of economic policies toward Cuba over the past two years. The administration’s recent Cuba regulations have helped the U.S., Earnest said (here). “It’s not a concession to allow American cruise operators to stop in Cuba,” Earnest said. “It’s not a concession to allow American hotel operators to sign licensing agreements with resorts in Cuba. It’s not a concession to give American agricultural interests the opportunity to do more business in Cuba. All of those are things that had important benefits for the American people and are strongly supported by the Cuban people.”