CHICAGO, Ill. — Those favoring the expansion of agricultural trade with Cuba, including several Illinois elected leaders, are decrying President Donald Trump’s decree that the United States would “cancel” most aspects of the diplomatic detente arranged by former President Barack Obama, including many of its trade benefits.

 

 However, the agricultural trade aspects associated with lifting the five decades-old American diplomatic and trade embargo with Cuba could survive mostly intact – provided the Cuban government does not react negatively to Trump’s words and actions.

This is according to Paul Johnson, executive director for the U.S. Agriculture Coalition for Cuba and Illinois-Cuba Working Group, who traveled to Cuba fora visit with trade leaders just days after Trump’s June 16 announcement. “I think the agricultural sector are going to be okay after this directive,” said Johnson, on the day after Trump announced the U.S. would no longer pursue normalization of trade relations with Cuba.

“I think it’s going to be really more important now for agriculture to forge ahead and gain confidence in Cuba through the channels that remain open to us following this policy directive. There remain a lot of opportunities in Cuba. We’re still allowed to export, with limitations.”

Those export limitations include a ban on trade with Cuba’s military, which owns a large wholesale food company that distributes products to retailers, among other key distribution centers.

“That could be a problem. It may limit the number of buyers we can sell to in Cuba,” said Johnson, who has been journeying to the island nation and lobbying for expanded trade with the Castro government for more than a decade.

“That being said, I think agriculture has been largely spared from this directive. What’s concerning, however, is how Cuba reacts to the tone of the directive. That could affect overall trade, because they could push back.”

While Trump ridiculed the Obama administration’s efforts to restore trade with Cuba as “extremely one-sided” in favor of the Communist-run nation, Johnson said the opposite was true: Cuba’s exports to the U.S. would be described as “extremely limited.”

“We have to work on that part so we can show Cuba that we really want a normal trade relationship. By helping to improve their logistic distribution systems, we can help allow Cuba to export their products to the United States,” he said.

Johnson said his recent weeklong trip to Cuba, along with the Minnesota lieutenant governor, state FarmBureau and Minnesota Corn Growers officials, had been scheduled prior to Trump’s announcement, and could not be described as a “damage control” mission.

The group was scheduled to meet with Cuba’s ministries of agriculture and foreign affairs and farm groups, among other stakeholders. “It will be interesting to gauge their reaction to all this, which is very important,” Johnson said before leaving for Cuba. “This tone doesn’t help. We are disappointed with the directive, but there will be more battles in the future. If you read between the lines, what (Trump) said doesn’t really have a lot of teeth.”

Illinois Corn Growers Assoc. Executive Director Rodney Weinzierl told central Illinois news sources that farmers like to earn a profit off the free market rather than government programs. He fears the Trump decree may represent a step backward.

“We’re a little apprehensive right now as to what the changes actually mean,” Weinzierl said in late June. U.S. Rep. Darin LaHood, a Republican from Peoria, said the trade deal with Cuba set up by the Obama administration, but not yet approved by Congress, would have benefited not only farmers but Illinois-based heavy equipment dealers Caterpillar, Inc. and Deere & Co. “I have concerns about the direction the White House is going on Cuba policy,” he told Gatehouse Media. “This is about a market for us in an area we can be real leaders.”

LaHood’s Illinois counterpart in Congress, Democrat Cheri Bustos of Moline, said she feared the U.S. would again forfeit its geographical export advantage with Cuba by rescinding the Obama agreement.

“Other countries like Brazil, they’re going to step in where we have these opportunities, so what will happen is once countries like Cuba build those relationships with other countries, it’s going to be very hard for us to make inroads,” said Bustos, who recently traveled to Cuba as part of a pro-agriculture trade delegation.

Illinois Rep. Adam Kinzinger agreed that Trump’s announcement could hasten the demise of any agricultural trade benefits that might yet be realized with Cuba. “I would be supportive if the President decide to turn the screws on a little bit more in Cuba. Not more than where we were, but kind of more than what President Obama has done,” said the Champaign Republican.