26 June, 2017
"My gut feeling is that I think that we should continue to maintain President Obama's policy", said George Ransome, referring to sweeping changes made under the Obama Administration a few years ago.
Carnival Corporation, the world's largest travel leisure company, stated although Trump's revised policy means it would have to review the "extent of the tightening of the travel rules that could potentially affect our guests", it would continue to send cruises to Cuba, CNBC reported.
What followed over the next two years was the most significant change in US-Cuban relations since the 1959 revolution.
The secretaries of commerce and treasury will be responsible for crafting and implementing the new regulations, so the changes won't come immediately. Administration officials said that those who had already booked trips before the new policy takes effect would be able to go ahead with their plans, but future travel would be policed more rigorously to ensure it fitted one of twelve authorised categories as part of the Obama rules laid down in 2015.
According to the Washington Post, Donald Trump will travel to Miami, at the heart of the Cuban exile community in Little Havana, to announce the new policy approach. On the campaign trail, Trump called the Obama administration's moves to restore relations with Cuba "a bad deal" and tweeted a threat to "terminate it."
The administration has been drafting a new policy with input from Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart and Sen.
And, President Trump's upcoming directive will also completely ban transactions with companies that are controlled by the Cuban military.
Among the new restrictions likely to impact Americans, Trump will prohibit individual educational trips to Cuba. The "wet foot, dry foot" policy had allowed Cubans who arrived in the United States the ability to become permanent residents. "Because if they had, they'd know that the only thing that restricting travel will do is devastate Cubans working in the private sector who have relied on American visitors to provide for their families".
But on Friday, Trump, citing human rights violations, will sign an executive order in Miami on the new policy.
Additionally, President Trump's Policy toward Cuba will end individual people to people travel to Cuba.
Obama worked to enact several changes to Cuban policy during his tenure in the White House.
Meanwhile, there will be no changes to " wet foot, dry foot " policy, which allows Cubans who arrive in the USA without visas to stay, an official said.
But the White House's crackdown on Cuba's human rights record is puzzling, considering Trump has previously praised other countries and leaders with similarly checkered histories, such as Philippines' Rodrigo Duterte.
There are also no plans to reinstate the limits that Obama lifted on the amount of the island's coveted rum and cigars that American can bring home for personal use, one White House official said.
