US allows imports of privately produced products from Cuba

US allows imports of privately produced products from Cuba
By MICHAEL WEISSENSTEIN and ANDREA RODRIGUEZ, Associated Press | February 13, 2015 | Updated: February 13, 2015 1:45pm

HAVANA (AP) — The Obama administration is announcing that it will allow Cuba's small private business sector to sell goods to the United States in a potentially important loosening of the half-century trade embargo on the communist island.

A list published by the U.S. State Department Friday said Americans will be allowed to import anything produced by Cuban entrepreneurs with the exception of food and agricultural products, alcohol, minerals, chemicals, textiles, machinery, vehicles, arms and ammunition.

The imports would have to be produced by a Cuban operating in one of the dozens of categories of private business allowed by the Cuban government. Most of the categories are for services like car maintenance or watch repair, not potentially exportable goods. What's more, virtually all Cuban exports are produced and shipped by state-controlled enterprises and there is no indication that the government is willing to loosen control and allow private businesses on the island to start trading directly with firms overseas.

In short, no one should expect Cuban goods to start flowing to the U.S. in large quantities anytime soon, said Pedro Freyre, head of international practice at Florida-based law firm Akerman LLP.

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