WASHINGTON D.C. - In what the White House is calling one of the “most significant changes in our policy in more than fifty years,” President Obama declared that his Administration would be easing diplomatic and trade relations with Cuba. For the first time since January 1961, Havana will house an American embassy and American officials will begin the process of calming tensions between the two nations.
As the President explained, “...we are taking steps to increase travel, commerce, and the flow of information to and from Cuba.”
“I believe that American businesses should not be put at a disadvantage, and that increased commerce is good for Americans and for Cubans,” the President continued. “So we will facilitate authorized transactions between the United States and Cuba. U.S. financial institutions will be allowed to open accounts at Cuban financial institutions. And it will be easier for U.S. exporters to sell goods in Cuba.”
In light of this generation shift in foreign policy, members of our industry are asking what effect this news could have on America's agricultural community. Many are responding with cautious optimism, but questions remain.
"It is difficult at this point to put a number on how large an effect this could have on our industry, but this is certainly encouraging news," Barry Bedwell, President of the California Fresh Fruit Association, explained. "With any issue of this magnitude there are of course a lot of political issues to sort through, but I do feel that this is a sign we are generally moving in the right direction."
There is much about the internal infrastructure and capabilities of the Cuban economy which is still largely unknown, making it difficult to assess to what extent Cuba is capable of responding to the American market at this point in time. The potential is there, however.
"With a very similar climate to Florida, there is potential for Cuba to become an important player in a number of categories, such as tropical fruit, citrus as well as certain vegetables," shared Robert Guenther, Senior Vice President for Public Policy at the United Fresh Produce Association. "Anytime you add just over 11 million people to a market there are going to be exciting possibilities. This early in the process, however, it is still too soon to say to what extent this potential might be realized. An act of Congress will be required to open Cuba's ports to trade and only time will tell what that response will be."
"While we do see great potential in Cuba, at this point there are still a multitude of questions that will need to be answered before we'll begin to know anything more concrete than that," agreed Charlie Eagle, V.P. of Business Development at Southern Specialties. "In addition to the political issues that still need to be settled, Cuba's capacity to maintain cold chain and quality assurance standards, to harvest and ship product on schedule, and to house the logistic infrastructure necessary to ship these goods to market are all things that are still largely unknown after decades of limited communication. That said, many members of the fresh produce industry, along with myself, will be paying close attention to see how this situation develops."
What happens next will be largely dependent on Congress. As Guenther explained, a complete removal of a trade embargo will require an act from Capitol Hill. Republican opposition is already forming to this idea, however, with GOP Senator Marco Rubio declaring he intends to block any nominee for the position of U.S. Ambassador to Cuba.
"I reserve the right to do everything within the rules of the Senate to prevent that sort of individual from ever even coming up for a vote," USA Today reported him as saying. The son of Cuban immigrants, possible 2016 presidential candidate, and incoming Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere, his words could carry considerable weight in the halls of Congress during these deliberations.
The Senator is not the only one to raise concerns either. Fellow GOP Senator Lindsey Graham, the incoming Chairman of the Appropriations subcommittee which is delegated with appropriating funding for the State Department, agreed, arguing that "Normalizing relations with Cuba is a bad idea at a bad time."
Regardless of what happens next, what we are witnessing is a new chapter in Cuban-American relations. After today's news, it is certainly primed to be an exciting one.
