WASHINGTON – In a new round of executive orders, President Barack Obama has lifted financial restrictions on Cuban rum and cigars, allowing travelers to bring the once-banned items into the United States from any foreign source.
Will the order mean a flood of Cuban cigars into the convenience channel?
Not at this point, because the measure only applies to travelers coming back from Cuba or other foreign countries where they can purchase those goods, according to a report from USA Today. People still won’t be able to order Cuban goods online and have them shipped to their homes in the United States either, the report said.
The new rules actually extend an initial relaxation of the ban that President Obama initiated in January 2015, which allowed travelers coming back from Cuba to bring in no more than $100 worth of goods. The new regulations eliminate the monetary limit and from where travelers buy the products, the report said.
Issued by the U.S. departments of Commerce and Treasury, the regulations took effect this month and build upon a December 2014 agreement between President Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro to normalize relations after decades of Cold War animosity.
Congress must still invalidate the more than 50-year-old embargo on Cuban goods, but President Obama’s decrees are meant to establish enough trade between the countries to eventually force such action, the report said.
The regulatory changes build “on the progress made over the last two years to continue to facilitate more interaction between the Cuban and American people, including through travel and commercial opportunities, and more access to information,” President Obama said in a statement. “Challenges remain—and very real differences between our governments persist on issues of democracy and human rights—but I believe that engagement is the best way to address those differences and make progress on behalf of our interests and values.”
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