Playing dominoes, smoking cigars and roasting pork are part of the daily life culture of Cubans. People have been smuggling Cuban cigars to the United States for many years since the relationship with the United States deteriorated. But from March 16, Americans no longer have to sneak around. They can buy Cuban products such as Cuban cigars overseas and bring them back to the United States.
Let go of tourism
Cigars are actually the best sign of the deterioration of trade relations between the United States and Cuba. 1962 February, then US President John F? Kennedy signed a decree formally announcing the economic and financial blockade and trade embargo against Cuba. The night before the sanctions were signed, Kennedy asked Salinger, then White House press secretary, to do him a small favor and secretly bought 1000 Cuban cigars outside. At 8 o'clock the next morning, 1200 cigars were delivered to Kennedy on time. He immediately opened the drawer with a smile, took out a long document and signed it-a bill banning all Cuban goods from entering the United States. Since then, Cuban cigars have become a "forbidden fruit" in the United States, and they have been released for more than 50 years.
Before US President Barack Obama's historic visit to Cuba next week, the White House announced on March 15 that it would further relax travel and trade restrictions on Cuba. The most prominent feature of the new policy is the complete relaxation of tourism rights. Since March 16, Cuban citizens who are not immigrants are allowed to receive salaries in the United States, and American companies can also sponsor Cuban citizens to work in the United States. Restrictions on transactions between banks in the United States and Cuba and restrictions on the use of dollars in transactions have been lifted. The newly revised policy has increased "people-to-people" exchanges, including allowing individual American citizens to travel to Cuba and allowing Americans to support educational projects in Cuba through grants and scholarships.
Foreign media commented that compared with last year's policy of 65438+ 10/6, this new policy essentially abolished the long-term ban on Americans visiting Cuba as tourists. Last year, although the policy allowed Americans to go to Cuba without special permission, it did not mean that ordinary Americans could immediately go to the beaches in Cuba to enjoy the sunshine. On the contrary, it is limited to visiting relatives and group trips approved by the government, such as business, news interviews, official duties, sports competitions and attending meetings. Under the new policy, any cultural activity group can go to Cuba, including music performances, art appreciation and basketball games. Last year's policy also allowed the use of American credit cards and debit cards in Cuba; American enterprises are allowed to export more kinds of goods to Cuba, including building materials and communication equipment.
According to the data, the losses caused by the economic blockade and sanctions of the United States and Cuba are as high as1168 billion dollars. From now on, Cubans and Americans will be moved by President Obama this time. Obama is scheduled to visit Cuba in four days. This is the first visit to Cuba by a current US president in the past 90 years. Vulic, senior policy adviser of the US Trade and Economic Commission, said, "This change in the tourism field is entirely led by airlines, because once scheduled flights start, the seats on the plane will be filled. They need individuals, not just groups. " The United States and Cuba are expected to resume regular commercial flights later this year, reaching 1 10 flights per day.
Heavy penalty enterprise
Which sanctions have not been lifted? This new revision is the fifth round of changes in the restrictions imposed on Cuba by the Ministry of Commerce and the Ministry of Finance. Due to the embargo on Cuba, Cuba's direct investment in the United States and Cuba's import restrictions on the United States remain unchanged. Although President Obama intends to relax sanctions, bank transactions and professional basketball games can be run in Cuba, but the US Congress strongly opposes it. Republican Senator Lu Biao, a Cuban-American from Florida, criticized the Obama administration's measures in a written statement: "The Castro regime used this windfall to suppress the Cuban people and engaged in activities that harmed the interests of the United States in Latin America and other places."
It is reported that on the one hand, the US government is relaxing the freedom of communication between the two peoples, while on the other hand, it is issuing a fine to American enterprises going to Cuba. Recently, Halliburton, an energy supplier, was fined more than $300,000 for its cooperation with Cuban oil companies in oilfield services. In addition, since the sanctions policy was relaxed on February 7, 2004, 2065438, Washington has issued nearly $3 billion in fines to five American companies and enterprises from other countries.
According to the survey, due to the serious natural disasters in Cuba, American insurance companies have actually targeted the Cuban market, but according to the current regulations, the Cuban insurance market will not be open to American companies for at least 20 16 years. There are only two insurance companies operating in Cuba, both of which are state-owned enterprises, occupying major market shares in automobile, travel insurance, agriculture, construction and commercial insurance, while American insurance companies believe that rebuilding hotels and houses is profitable.
American cigar merchants are worried.
There are also American cigar manufacturers who oppose lifting the trade ban against Cuba. The Obama administration announced on March 15 that Americans can buy Cuban cigars and other Cuban products overseas and bring them back to the United States. In last year's negotiations, only cigars with a value of 100 were allowed.
The United States is the largest cigar market in the world, which has been blocked for more than 50 years. Now Cuban cigars are coming, but American cigar manufacturers are worried that they may face fierce competition from Cuban cigars. It is predicted that Cuban cigar manufacturers will eventually win 70% of the high-quality cigar market in the United States, and then American factories will really have to worry. However, some American manufacturers say that the price of Cuban cigars is $25, while the price of American cigars is less than 10. At that time, consumers will choose cigars that suit their tastes.
During the trade boom, cargo ships transported Cuban nickel and limestone to the ports in New Orleans, USA, and also transported beans grown in Central America to Havana. Cubans eat rice grown in the United States, while American tourists are crowded with casinos and nightclubs in Havana. Analysts believe that as long as American enterprises such as finance, agriculture, tourism, energy and automobiles can finally enter the Cuban market smoothly, Cuban rum and cigar producers can also find new business opportunities in the United States.
Barbara, two analysts at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, a Washington think tank? Kozwa and Gary? Hoofbauer predicted on Thursday that US exports to Cuba will eventually reach $5.9 billion a year, while Cuba's exports to the United States will reach $6.7 billion. Analysts say that with the improvement of the relationship between the United States and Cuba, other countries will also increase their direct investment in Cuba, from less than $654.38+0 billion to as high as $654.38+0.7 billion.
What efforts has Obama made?
As early as 2009, after Obama became president of the United States, he began to promote the normalization of relations between the United States and Cuba. On March 10, 2009, the United States Senate passed a bill on partially lifting the United States sanctions against Cuba, revised the controversial embargo law against Cuba, relaxed the restrictions on Cuban Americans and Cubans with green cards to visit relatives in Cuba, and relaxed the restrictions on American exports of food and medicine to Cuba.
20 12,12 On July 3, the cargo ship Anna Cecilia, which set sail from Miami, Florida, USA and was full of humanitarian aid, arrived in Havana Port, marking the resumption of the ancient-American sea freight that had been interrupted for more than 50 years.
On July 3rd, 2065438, the State Council announced that it would extend the validity of non-immigrant visas for Cuban tourists from the current six months to five years from August/Kloc-0th, so as to promote people-to-people exchanges between the two countries.
On 20 14, Obama announced the relaxation of economic sanctions against Cuba. Obama and Cuban leader Raul? Castro announced that the two countries will hold consultations on restoring diplomatic relations between the two countries and reach an agreement on exchanging prisoners, and then met with Cuban leader Castro twice.
In 20 15, the State Council announced that Cuba would be removed from the list of "countries supporting terrorism", which cleared a big obstacle for the resumption of diplomatic relations between the United States and Cuba. In July of the same year, the United States and Cuba formally resumed bilateral diplomatic relations and set up embassies in each other's capitals.
March 20th's visit will be a historic visit, which will add another highlight to the foreign policy legacy of Obama's term, and the relationship between these two long-term "Cold War adversaries" will usher in a historic turning point.