If ban were eased, U.S. exports to Cuba could double, report says

Posted on Thu, Jul. 19, 2007
If ban were eased, U.S. exports to Cuba could double, report says
BY PABLO BACHELET
pbachelet@MiamiHerald.com

WASHINGTON --
Lifting U.S. trade and travel restrictions on Cuba could boost
agricultural exports to the island by between $175 million and $350
million per year, a U.S. government report released Thursday concludes.

The $350 million figure would be more than double current agricultural
exports to the island.

Opponents of U.S. policy seized on the conclusions to argue that the
Bush administration needs to ease the restrictions in order to benefit
U.S. exporters.

''It's clearly time for Congress to curb the overzealous trade embargo
on Cuba, so that American ranchers and farmers can benefit to the tune
of over $300 million a year,'' said Montana Democratic Sen. Max Baucus,
chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, which oversees trade issues.

The committee requested the study by the U.S. International Trade
Commission (ITC), an independent agency that reviews trade matters. The
report is one of the most complete of its kind, with nine investigators
conducting scores of interviews, including some in Cuba.

The report cautions that projections are difficult to make because of
``data limitations and the nonmarket aspects of Cuban purchasing
decisions.''

It notes that agricultural goods are imported by the state trading
agency Alimport, which considers both commercial and ''noncommercial
factors'' when making its purchasing decisions, including diversifying
suppliers and ``strengthening strategic geopolitical relations.''

So the study provides a range of $176 million to $350 million for
additional Cuban purchases.

The 180-page report also estimates lifting travel restrictions would
mean between 550,000 and one million U.S. citizens would travel to Cuba
annually, against 170,000 that did so in 2005, most of them Cuban Americans.

U.S. commodity exports to Cuba were permitted in 2000 and the United
States quickly became Cuba's biggest supplier of foodstuff, although
farm state lawmakers like Baucus, who has proposed legislation to ease
sanctions, argue that U.S. sales could be much higher.

The biggest gains would be for fresh fruits and vegetables, milk powder,
processed foods and certain meats, ITC investigators concluded.

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