- Title: U.S. state agriculture delegation travels to Cuba despite Trump´s rollback
- Date: 22nd June 2017
- Summary: QUIVICAN, MAYABEQUE, CUBA (FILE - JANUARY 04, 2012) (REUTERS) ***WARNING CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** FARMER WORKING IN FIELD FARMERS AND COW IN FIELD HAVANA, CUBA (FILE - 2015) (REUTERS) FORMER U.S. AGRICULTURE SECRETARY, THOMAS J VILSACK, VISITING MARKET OF AGRICULTURAL PRODUCE BLACK BOARD WITH PRICES OF GOODS VILSACK WALKING THROUGH MARKET
- 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: LVA0026MD299H
- 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: FILE REUTERS (CAN SELL)
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