Senators Push to Ease Cuba Trade Ban as Biden Demurs, for Now

07/14/2021

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Megan U. Boyanton | Bloomberg

A new bipartisan push in Congress to open up Cuba for U.S. agriculture stands the best chance of moving ahead with a trade relationship that has bedeviled American presidents over decades.

Despite industry support, it won’t happen without a fight from Cuban-Americans in the GOP who have protested any move seen as benefiting the island’s communist government.

Proponents of opening trade with Cuba point to the new economic opportunity for farmers and ranchers recovering from lost markets during the coronavirus pandemic. The Caribbean nation buys more than $2 billion in agricultural goods annually from abroad, according to the American Farm Bureau Federation.

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