On May 20, fulfilling a campaign promise to a room full of supporters in Miami, President Donald Trump announced, “I am canceling the last administration’s completely one-sided deal with Cuba.” While this declaration played well to his supporters, it was far from true. Most of the policy openings introduced by President Barack Obama remain in place. We still have an embassy in Havana, commercial flights and cruises to the island continue and certain American industries continue shipping products to the island country. So what changed? Basically, there were two major changes to the existing policy.
Travel by Americans for pure tourism without an allowed exemption is no longer allowed. The exemptions were still in place under the Obama policy but they were not being strictly policed. As long as it was likely to lead to exchanges with the Cuban people, Americans were free to book a trip to Cuba without any formalities. The 12 categories of authorized exemptions include family visits, journalists, cultural exchanges, educational trips, humanitarian trips and the ambiguous “support for the Cuban people.” This will likely result in a resurgence of the role of the licensed tour company to help Americans comfortably comply with the regulations.
