According to NBC sources, President Trump is considering rolling back Obama’s executive orders regarding liberalized trade and travel with Cuba. Although the president is unlikely to break diplomatic relations or close the U.S. embassy in Havana, there is also strong Republican support in the Senate for continuing Obama-era policies.
Fifty-four Republican senators support lifting the U.S. Trade embargo entirely but Florida Senator Marco Rubio, a hardliner on Cuba, is heavily pushing Trump to weaken and even eliminate Obama’s changes. Obama administration restoration of Cuba relations lasted up until his last week in office when he ended the “wet foot, dry foot,” which gave Cubans arriving illegally to the U.S. residency.
Former President Obama was the first American President to travel to the U.S. since Calvin Coolidge nearly 90 years ago. The changes the Trump administration is considering revolve around re-imposing limits to banking, people-to-people exchanges and American purchases of Cuban cigars and rum.
The White House has not yet reached a final decision on whether to roll back Obama’s executive orders on trade and travel with Cuba. It is not yet certain whether the White House will reverse Obama’s ending of the “wet foot, dry foot.”
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