A bipartisan group of lawmakers on Monday reintroduced legislation that would lift America’s trade embargo on Cuba.
Democratic Sens. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Chris Murphy of Connecticut, along with Republican Sens. Jerry Moran and Roger Marshall of Kansas, released a plan to rekindle economic ties between the two nations.
The “Freedom to Export to Cuba Act” would eliminate obstacles and laws preventing Americans from doing business in Cuba and allow for more American exports into the country, giving Cubans greater access to American goods.
“I have long pushed to reform our relationship with Cuba, which for decades has been defined by conflicts of the past instead of looking toward the future,” Senator Klobuchar said in a statement. “By ending the trade embargo with Cuba once and for all, our bipartisan legislation will turn the page on the failed policy of isolation while creating a new export market and generating economic opportunities for American businesses.”
New bipartisan gang just dropped?
Klobuchar, Moran, Murphy, Marshall, Warren Introduce Bipartisan Legislation to Lift Trade Embargo on Cuba pic.twitter.com/MybXW5qlvM
— Nathaniel Reed (@ReedReports) March 6, 2023
“It’s important for the United States to boost our economic opportunities and increase market access for American-made goods,” Marshall said, according to a press release from the group.
America is the largest exporter of food to Cuba, sending $27.7 million in food to the country in 2021, CBS News reported in January 2022. The Trade Sanctions Reform Act, passed in 2000, allowed Cuba to receive certain food and agricultural shipments from the U.S. even under the embargo. Critics argue that under the status quo, the Cuban government has outsized control over who gets to import and distribute American food, which has effectively given the government license to charge exorbitant prices.