- Title: U.S. state agriculture delegation travels to Cuba despite Trump´s rollback
- Date: 22nd June 2017
- Summary: HAVANA, CUBA (JUNE 22, 2017) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR OF MINNESOTA, TINA SMITH, SAYING: "Whatever happens, the position that he took on Friday is going to do damage to opportunities for American businesses. I don't know how a person travelling to Cuba is supposed to know whether the hotel that they are staying in or the restaurant that they are eating in is, you know, what percentage of that ownership is by the Cuban military. I just don't understand how you would even implement something like that". HAVANA, CUBA (RECENT) (REUTERS) GENERAL VIEW OF EXTERIOR OF U.S. EMBASSY IN HAVANA CLOSE-UP OF U.S. FLAG EXTERIOR OF EMBASSY MALECON SEA WALL
- Embargoed: 6th July 2017 17:17
- Keywords: United States Cuba Donald Trump Minnesota agriculture Lieutenant Governor of Minnesota Tina Smith
- Location: HAVANA AND QUIVICAN, MAYABEQUE, CUBA
- City: HAVANA AND QUIVICAN, MAYABEQUE, CUBA
- Country: Cuba
- Topics: Diplomacy/Foreign Policy,Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA0036MD299H
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: U.S. businesses and states will continue to engage with Cuba in the areas they can, like agricultural trade despite U.S. President Donald Trump's partial rollback of the detente, the lieutenant governor of Minnesota said on Thursday (June 22).
Tina Smith, the first U.S. state representative to make an official visit to Cuba since Trump's announcement on Friday (June 16), said Cuban authorities were worried about the setback to bilateral relations.
Leading a bipartisan trade delegation from Minnesota, the lieutenant governor said she was therefore glad to carry them the message that there was still plenty of support for continuing to normalise relations.
Smith's delegation from Minnesota, one of the largest U.S. agriculture states, included its agriculture commissioner and the head of the corn growers association and aimed to improve ties to promote exports to Cuba.
U.S. farm groups have been particularly critical of Trump's decision to retreat from former President Barack Obama's opening towards Cuba, saying it could derail huge increase in agricultural exports that totalled $221 million dollars last year.
U.S. law exempts food from a decades-old embargo on U.S. trade with Cuba although cumbersome rules on how transactions were executed have made deals difficult and costly. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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