Washington D.C. – 13 June 2017 –
President Donald Trump plans to follow through on a campaign promise by rolling back the Obama administration’s effort to open Cuba to US tourism and trade, with new limits being considered on travel and investment by US companies, Bloomberg reported.
It said Trump’s advisers are preparing options including curbs on American travel to the island and restricting partnerships between US companies and entities with ties to the Cuban military, according to two people familiar with the discussions.
Final options haven’t yet been presented to Trump, though a decision is expected before a visit by the US president to Miami on Friday. The people familiar with the plans, both outside the White House, spoke on condition of anonymity because discussions are ongoing.
Trump has criticized Obama’s deal-making with Cuba as one-sided, and has said it allowed the Castro regime to continue human rights abuses. Obama re-opened the US embassy on the island, relaxed travel restrictions on American citizens, and allowed US airlines to establish direct flights and US cruise lines to make ports of call in Cuba.
“All of the concessions that Barack Obama has granted the Castro Regime were done through executive order, which means the next president can reverse them – and that is what I will do, unless the Castro Regime meets our demands,” Trump said at a campaign rally in Miami last September.