02/15/05 The Cuba bill, Part Two

When U.S. Senator Larry Craig of Idaho and some of his colleagues presented a bill to modify language in the Trade Sanctions Reform and Export Enhancement Act of 2000, it was done to eventually benefit states that have benefited from trade with Cuba. States like Idaho has seen, among other ag industries, its potato growers benefit. States like Washington has seen, among other ag industries, its apple growers benefit. The goal of the measure to be to remove current, and prevent future roadblocks to expanded trade from happening, such as the roadblocks placed by the Bush Administration in late 2003 as respond to Cuban dictator Fidel Castro's crackdown on dissidents. CRAIG: We'll allow once again to define cash payment in advance as receipt of payment before transfer of title and release of physical control of the goods to sellers. This has become a confused issue inside the bureaucracy of our system here. Another would be to authorize the issuance of a general license for U.S. agricultural producers to travel to Cuba to sell, market, and finalize any sales or trade to do so without delays from O.F.A.C. itself. Currently, the U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Asset Control requires not one, but two licenses for U.S. exporters & one just to export, the other just to be paid. And how exporters get paid is another matter addressed in the Cuba bill. CRAIG: The third provision will authorize direct cash payments to U.S. banks. Currently, the U.S. producer and Cuban entities are force to use European banks for transactions. Sometimes, transaction costs reach five per cent of the total sales costs. In the overall agreement, European banks are winning in this situation, American producers are losing. From what Craig sees, the White House is not showing itself hostile towards the bill. That may be due to two reasons. One is that this is not an election year. And second, the bill is not a change in law only a clarification. But Craig and his sponsors plan to build bi-partisan support and move the measure fast to the President's desk to be signed into law. CRAIG: This is the kind of legislation that could be easily attached to an amendment. This legislation has passed the Congress before. What we're saying to the White House, to the Administration, to O.F.A.C., what we said before in 2000, we mean now. Don't put up the artificial barriers, don't create the chilling effect. Clean up your act. Abide by the law. This is the law. And that's what we expect.