“A bill to lift the trade embargo on Cuba, and for other purposes.”
No CRS summary available for this bill.
This section repeals and amends multiple statutory provisions to remove U.S. restrictions on trade, exports, assistance, and other relations with Cuba, including (1) Section 620(a) of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2370(a)), a primary authority prohibiting assistance to Cuba; (2) authorities under section 5(b) of the Trading with the Enemy Act (50 U.S.C. 4305(b)) as applied to Cuba; (3) existing export prohibitions under the Export Administration Act of 1979 and Export Control Reform Act of 2018 (50 U.S.C. 4801 et seq.), while authorizing the President to impose new controls for threats arising after enactment; (4) the Cuban Democracy Act of 1992 (22 U.S.C. 6001 et seq.); (5) the Cuban Liberty and Democratic Solidarity (LIBERTAD) Act of 1996 (22 U.S.C. 6021 et seq.) and related conforming amendments, including repeal of sections 514 and 515 of the International Claims Settlement Act of 1949 (22 U.S.C. 1643l and 1643m), which authorized the Foreign Claims Settlement Commission to determine the amount and ownership of U.S. nationals' claims arising from Cuban confiscations of property for purposes of Title V of the LIBERTAD Act; (6) Cuba-related restrictions on U.S. assistance to former Soviet republics under the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2295a and 2295b); (7) Cuba-specific restrictions in the Trade Sanctions Reform and Export Enhancement Act of 2000 (22 U.S.C. 7201 et seq.), including prohibitions on most agricultural exports and financing; (8) Section 211 of the Department of Commerce and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 1999 (Public Law 105-277), which barred recognition of transactions involving confiscated Cuban intellectual property; and (9) the prohibition on Cuban sugar import quotas under section 902(c) of the Food Security Act of 1985 (Public Law 99-198).
This section authorizes any common carrier, as defined in section 3 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 153), to install, maintain, repair, and upgrade telecommunications equipment and facilities in Cuba and to provide telecommunications services between the United States and Cuba.
This section prohibits regulation or prohibition of travel to and from Cuba by U.S. citizens or residents, and transactions ordinarily incident to such travel, if that travel is lawful in the United States. Incident transactions include (1) those ordinarily incident to travel or maintenance in Cuba and (2) normal banking transactions involving foreign currency drafts, traveler’s checks, or other negotiable instruments incident to that travel.
This section urges the President to advance negotiations with the Government of Cuba to (1) settle claims of nationals of the United States for property taken by that government and (2) secure protection of internationally recognized human rights. It applies the definitions of "national of the United States" (i.e., U.S. citizens or U.S.-organized entities 50% or more owned by U.S. citizens) and "property" (i.e., any property, right, interest, or debt nationalized or expropriated by Cuba) from the International Claims Settlement Act of 1949.
This section extends nondiscriminatory trade treatment (normal trade relations) to the products of Cuba, effective the 15th day after enactment, by (1) amending subdivision (b) of general note 3 of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States to strike references to Cuba and section 401 of the Tariff Classification Act of 1962; (2) repealing that section 401; and (3) terminating application of title IV of the Trade Act of 1974 to Cuba. (Title IV requires denial of such treatment to certain communist countries, including Cuba, that restrict emigration.) The section also expresses the sense of Congress that the United States should normalize trade relations with Cuba and no longer invoke article XXI of the GATT 1994 (national security exception) with respect to Cuba—while affirming the President's authority to do so in appropriate circumstances—and requires a presidential report to Congress on U.S.-Cuba trade relations within 18 months of enactment.
This section prohibits the Secretary of the Treasury from limiting the amount of remittances to Cuba by persons subject to U.S. jurisdiction and requires rescission of all existing regulations imposing such limits. It clarifies that this prohibition does not preclude prosecution or conviction for money laundering offenses under 18 U.S.C. §§ 1956 (laundering of monetary instruments) or 1957 (monetary transactions in criminally derived property).
This section revises the start of the denial period for foreign tax credits under IRC §901(j) (which suspends credits for taxes paid to countries that repeatedly provide support for acts of international terrorism, i.e., state sponsors of terrorism) by changing the trigger from when "such country becomes" a state sponsor of terrorism to "the date on which the President reports to Congress that such country has been determined to be" one. (Thus, the denial takes effect only after presidential notification to Congress.) The amendment applies to determinations made after enactment and does not affect countries already determined to be state sponsors of terrorism on or before enactment.