Cargill aims to sell more corn and soybeans. MasterCard covets another site for Americans to swipe credit cards. Marriott sees beachfront property that needs hotels.
American businesses have begun imagining ways to capitalize on last week’s announcement that the United States will restore diplomatic ties with Cuba and ease curbs on trade with one of the last surviving Communist regimes. Their more ambitious plans would require that Congress lift the U.S. embargo on most exports to Cuba. But given sharp resistance from some in Congress, The Associated Press reports, that might not happen soon. But many analysts think Congress will repeal the embargo eventually.
All that said, Cuba experts have a message for any business that might be envisioning easy riches: Be patient.
After years of rigid market planning in Cuba and the half-century-old U.S. embargo, restoring economic ties to something close to normal is likely to be complex and time-consuming. The United States must change laws and regulations, and Cuba must build an economy more hospitable to foreign investment.
“The Cuban government has a long way to go and a lot more to do,” says Jodi Bond, vice president of the Americas at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. “I don’t think any businesses are under the illusion that this is going to be an easy transition or the floodgates will open.”
Still, the prospects are tantalizing.
Economists at the Peterson Institute for International Economics estimate that the export of U.S. goods to Cuba could eventually reach $4.3 billion annually, up from just $360 million in 2013. And Cuban exports of goods to the United States could reach $5.8 billion, from zero now. Read the full story.
