Time Magazine

The bill's bipartisan backers, not surprisingly, see it as the former. House staffers say the White House Cuba regulations will be a shot in the arm for the broader travel legislation when Congress returns from its recess next month. Embargo foes agree. "This is the Administration essentially saying, 'We've done what we can, and now we want Congress to take the larger step,'" says Jake Colvin, vice president for global trade issues at the independent National Foreign Trade Council in Washington, D.C. "This bill still has a lot of hurdles, but this implicit White House support gives it momentum again."

Huffington Post

Op-ed by NFTC Vice President for Global Trade Issues Jake Colvin

Widespread speculation that the Obama administration will loosen restrictions on the ability of American citizens to visit Cuba has put travel to the island back in the spotlight. If you are hoping that the president's expected announcement will allow you to travel to Cuba, here are a few things to consider:

Ten years ago, Congress passed legislation which restricts the president from allowing "travel to, from, or within Cuba for tourist activities." The president may only license travel under a dozen categories of travel for a particular reason.

Under current law, American citizens may be able to travel to Cuba to visit family, to conduct professional or academic research, for educational or religious reasons, for public performances or exhibitions, to support the Cuban people, to conduct humanitarian projects, or to market or sell certain products. There are also exemptions for journalists, diplomats, and private foundations.

Within these limitations, the president has the ability to get many more Americans traveling to Cuba for activities that would benefit the United States and the Cuban people.

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Hispanic Link News Service

As speculation surfaces of oil prospects in Cuba, officials are worried that the United States’ embargo will fall short with trade, as the island continues to attract global investments from countries such as China.

“If we insist on maintaining the embargo, other countries will benefit from that increased trade,” said Ronald Saligo, professor of economics at Rice University, through a teleconference Aug. 17 at a luncheon of the National Foreign Trade Council (NFTC). “There is a great deal of potential here. The question is whether we are going to sacrifice those for this (embargo) policy, which has not succeeded in 50 years.”

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Christian Science Monitor

Action now would be aimed in part at “creating momentum for ending the travel ban,” says Jake Colvin, vice president of the National Foreign Trade Council, a Washington business organization that favors ending the Cuba embargo. More broadly, he says, administration and congressional action reflect a growing “consensus” that it’s time “to do something different on Cuba.”

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Reuters

U.S. advocates for better ties with Cuba, which include business and pro-democracy groups, are expecting the Obama administration to go further now, especially in the wake of Cuba's recent decision to free 52 jailed dissidents.

"There will be a huge emphasis on people-to-people travel. That is (the Obama administration's) whole mantra. That's what they're talking about," said Sarah Stephens, executive director of Center for Democracy in the Americas, a non-profit group in Washington that opposes sanctions against Cuba. Cuba plans to drill for oil in its Gulf of Mexico waters and U.S. companies would be left out if deposits are found and the trade embargo is not lifted, she said.

Jake Colvin, vice president at the National Foreign Trade Council, said the new policy could possibly increase the number of airports from which U.S. citizens can travel to Cuba. 

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Reuters

A coalition of U.S. business, academic and other groups have urged President Barack Obama to respond to Cuba's recent release of political prisoners by reversing remaining travel restrictions imposed by former President George W. Bush. "Mr. President, this is an important moment. We ask you to take bold steps to reverse decades of counterproductive policies toward Cuba, and we pledge our support," the groups said in a letter to Obama on Monday. The groups sending the letter included the National Foreign Trade Council, the National Tour Association, the American Association of State Colleges and Universities, the Center for Democracy in the Americas and the Washington Office on Latin America.

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Bloomberg

Travel and trade restrictions on Cuba have been adjusted by nearly every U.S. administration since then-President Dwight D. Eisenhower established trade limits in 1960, following Fidel’s revolution against the U.S.-backed Batista regime. Former President George W. Bush banned some educational exchanges not directly related to academic coursework in 2003, according to a report by the Congressional Research Service.

The U.S. exported $532 million worth of goods to Cuba last year, most of it wheat, corn, meat and other farm goods. That total could be higher if rules governing cash payments were made simpler, U.S. farm groups say.

Groups such as the United States Tour Operators Association and the National Foreign Trade Council, a Washington-based organization of companies and trade associations, have called for a repeal of the ban, which is designed to isolate the Castro regime and keep hard currency out of the country.

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Newsweek

Bloomberg Businessweek

Senator Byron Dorgan, co-sponsor of a bill to lift a ban on U.S. citizens traveling to Cuba, said both houses of Congress will pass the legislation this year.

Dorgan, a North Dakota Democrat who is sponsoring the bill with Wyoming Republican Mike Enzi, said in an interview that he plans to move the legislation to the Senate floor by attaching it as an amendment to another bill this month or in September. He plans to include a measure to make it easier for U.S. farmers to sell goods to the communist island.

Groups such as the United States Tour Operators Association and the National Foreign Trade Council, a Washington-based organization of companies and trade associations, have called for a repeal of the ban, which is designed to isolate the regime of President Raul Castro and keep hard currency out of the country. The House Agriculture Committee passed a bill last month that would end the travel ban and would simplify rules governing cash transactions with Cuba.

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Agweek

Agriculture, business and humanitarian groups favored the legislation while anti-Castro groups opposed it. Baca and Republicans proposed a series of amendments to take out the travel language or delay implementation of the bill, but Peterson ruled all of them out of order. The Republicans appealed those rulings, but lost on roll call votes on each.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Foreign Trade Council and the National Farmers Union, which favored it, said that they would use the vote in analyzing the performance of members of Congress. The American Farm Bureau Federation, which also favored it, said it does not score the performance of legislators but would publish the vote in its newsletter.

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Axis of Logic

In the US, the National Foreign Trade Council and the US Engage alliance of companies and associations also raised concerns, particularly over possible penalties against US parent companies for violations by their foreign subsidiaries. In a press statement, council president Bill Reinsch warned: “We are deeply concerned about the timing of this legislation and its unintended consequences for legitimate global commerce.”

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New York Daily News

Introduced by Rep. Collin Peterson (D-Minn.) and Rep. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.), the bipartisan bill enjoys broad support. According to the Center for Democracy in the Americas, the legislation has the backing of a coalition of more than 130 organizations covering a spectrum including business (U.S. Chamber and National Foreign Trade Council), agriculture (National Farmers Union and American Farm Bureau Federation), foreign policy think tanks (Council on Foreign Relations, Cato Institute, Brookings Institution), human rights advocates (The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, AFL-CIO, Human Rights Watch), and many others.

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American Shipper

The committee is scheduled to mark up the Travel Restriction Reform and Export Enhancement Act (H.R. 4645), which in its current language would reverse the “payment of cash in advance” rule governing U.S. exports to Cuba and eliminate the requirement that payments to U.S. agricultural sellers must pass through banks in third countries, and lift restrictions.

“Members of the Agriculture Committee have a golden opportunity to vote for a bill that helps American farmers, businesses and citizens, as well as the Cuban people,” said Jake Colvin, vice president for global trade issues at the National Foreign Trade Council, in a joint statement with USA*Engage.

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Inter Press Service

"We commend the House Agriculture Committee for favourably reporting (the bill)," said Jake Colvin, vice president for Global Trade Issues of the National Foreign Trade Council (NFTC), a lobby group representing more than 300 major U.S.- based companies engaged in international business.

"Today's vote is the first step towards a more rational foreign policy towards Cuba, and one that the business community strongly supports," he added.

He noted that the NFTC, as well as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Farmers Union, has included the bill on their scorecards for rating lawmakers on their legislative records before the November elections due its importance as the only major trade-related bill on which the House will have voted this year.

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Christian Science Monitor

In a letter to the House Agriculture Committee, the Washington-based National Foreign Trade Council (NFTC) and USA*Engage, a consortium of small-business and trade-advocacy groups opposing US trade restrictions, said this was likely to be a rare opportunity for members of Congress “to vote to liberalize trade and encourage US engagement in the world.”

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The Hill

Other business groups are also gearing up their lobbying operations to support the bill.

On Tuesday, the National Foreign Trade Council and USA*Engage, two pro-trade business associations, sent a letter to House Agriculture Committee members urging them to support the bill,and they plan to score votes on the bill if it reaches the House floor.

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Bloomberg

The National Foreign Trade Council cautioned that the legislation extends sanctions to U.S. parent companies of foreign subsidiaries or sister units that “should have known” of violations.

“We are deeply concerned about the timing of this legislation and its unintended consequences for legitimate global commerce,” said Bill Reinsch, president of the council, in a statement. 

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Inter Press Service

Nonetheless, key business sectors opposed the package, noting, among other objections, that it could undermine the administration's efforts to maintain international backing for U.S. policy on Iran.

"Just two weeks ago, the administration successfully garnered international support and cooperation to impose additional multilateral U.N. sanctions against Iran," said Bill Reinsch, president of the National Foreign Trade Council, a lobby representing more than 300 major multinational corporations.

"Given this development, we are deeply concerned about the timing of this legislation and its unintended consequences for legitimate global commerce," he added. "We have and will continue to urge Congress to support the president's multilateral and multilayered diplomacy with Iran." 

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Tehran Times

The chairman of Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Mine has said that U.S. companies are allowed to invest in Iran's economic projects and there is no limitations in this regard.

Mohammad Nahavandian added that Iran has plans to establish a joint trade committee with three North American countries in a bid to create an opportunity to exchange information between Iranian firms and companies in the three North American states, he said.

The Iranian official expressed his satisfaction over the recent position taken by the U.S. National Foreign Trade Council rebuffing economic sanctions against Iran, the Mehr News Agency reported.

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Long Beach Press-Telegram

 The National Foreign Trade Council, a coalition of business and travel groups, have endorsed lifting trade quotas, and eased further lifting of sanctions in a recent letter to Congress.

"Current policies towards Cuba have clearly not achieved their objectives," said Jake Colvin, the NFTC's vice president of global trade issues. "Without the support of our allies and the larger international community, U.S. sanctions serve only to remove the positive influences that American businesses, workers, religious groups, students and tourists have in promoting U.S. values and human rights."

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