Question

5. Discuss the pros and cons of American business being excluded by American law (Pres Kennedy issued an Executive Order) from conducting any form of business activity on the island of Cuba. Express your perspectives of the European Union and other first world nations (like Canada) steadfastly generating billion of euros (and other currencies) from trade with Cuba.

Answer 1

There are significant pros and cons of prohibition of conducting trade with Cuba.

The pros of the prohibition are as follows

1. Cuba has not fulfilled the conditions of lifting the trade Ban which was set up by the US government.

2. The US government made various attempts to reduce the restrictions of trade. However this was met with aggression by the Cuban government.

3. There is no benefit to the US government from lifting the trade ban since there are hardly any private businesses in Cuba.

4. Reversing the embargo could be ruinous to the US image.

The cons of the trade Ban are as follows

1. The rest of the world is in favour of reversing the trade ban and this ban reduces the US goodwill in the world.

2. The Ban is considered to be ineffective since it was created to make Cuba promote capitalism but has not made its objective.

3. The ban has an impact on the small and family Run enterprises in United States and is expensive for the nation.

The main imports of Cuba are food, machinery and fuel. Its major exports are sugar, pharmaceuticals and tobacco. The main trading partners of Cuba are Venezuela and European Union. Tourism stemming from Canada has boosted the economy of Cuba. The European Union is Cubas main trade partner and also the biggest foreign investor in Cuba. Cuba will benefit from the European Union thematic program which covers issues such as support of internationalisation of small and medium enterprises as well as increasing the technical assistance in agriculture. The European Union is also exploring opportunities in fields of culture and health.