By Jerry Hagstrom
DTN Political Correspondent
WASHINGTON (DTN) --- President Barack Obama heads to Cuba for a state visit on Sunday, followed by Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and a number of senators and House members with agricultural interests.
The trip will reflect a significant milestone in attempting to re-establish a normal relationship with Cuba after 60 years of severed diplomatic ties. President Obama will be the first U.S. president to visit Cuba since Calvin Coolidge in 1928.
White House officials who held a call with reporters on Wednesday to announce details of the program did not say anything about agricultural discussions.
But Vilsack, on a call from Chile on Thursday, told reporters, "The White House is saving the best for last. We are obviously going to Cuba to continue to develop the relationship at a personal level with officials in agriculture. I think we are prepared to take a positive step forward, we will talk more about that in the very near future."
The trip will mark Vilsack's second visit to Cuba since last fall. U.S. exports to Cuba are roughly about $400 million a year, but the island country of about 11 million people imports as much as $2 billion in food annually. The U.S. could be more competitive exporting food, but that will require Congress to lift current restrictions on credit.
Senators who will accompany Obama include Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., Heidi Heitkamp, D-N.D., Dick Durbin, D-Ill., Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and Tom Udall, D-N.M.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., will lead the House delegation. Other members will include Rep. Tom Emmer, R-Minn., House Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee ranking member Sam Farr, D-Calif., and House Agriculture Nutrition Subcommittee ranking member Jim McGovern, D-Mass.
"Being part of this historic trip is a true honor, especially as I fight to expand U.S. agricultural exports to Cuba for the benefit of North Dakota farmers," said Heitkamp. "As I've long said, trade between our countries is a fundamental step toward strengthening human rights in Cuba."
"Cuba is just 90 miles from U.S. shores, but it's been almost 90 years since a sitting U.S. president visited the country," Heitkamp continued. "In particular, this trip will be a unique opportunity to keep up the fight for North Dakota producers, who rely on exports for their bottom line and know well that Cuba is a natural market for our state's crops. And it will build on my trip to Cuba in 2014, as well as my bipartisan bill to lift financing restrictions on U.S. agricultural exports to Cuba which would address the biggest barrier facing agricultural exporters in North Dakota."
Heitkamp noted that she and Sen. John Boozman, R-Ark., have introduced a bipartisan bill to ease finance restrictions on U.S. exports to Cuba.
The Obama administration announced last week additional measures to ease U.S.-Cuban relations, but those announcements by the Treasury and Commerce departments did not include agriculture.
The administration has said it is limited in making further progress on agriculture because the 2000 law that exempts U.S. agriculture products from the embargo on trade with Cuba also prohibits the use of credit for those sales.
The Cuban government has reduced its purchases of U.S. agricultural products and U.S. agriculture leaders have said Cuba wants to put pressure on the U.S. government to allow financing and to end the embargo.
Obama's fiscal year 2017 budget calls on Congress to provide money to allow the Agriculture Department's Foreign Agricultural Service to open an office in Cuba. Alexis Taylor, the USDA deputy undersecretary for farm and foreign agricultural services who is performing the duties of the undersecretary, told the House Agriculture Committee today that USDA cannot use any market development funds to promote U.S. products there.
White House officials said First Lady Michelle Obama and daughters Sasha and Malia will accompany the president on the trip to Cuba and also to Argentina.
Obama will meet with Cuban President Raul Castro, but will not meet with former President Fidel Castro, the officials said.
The Obamas will attend a state dinner in both Cuba and Argentina. The visit to Argentina will be the first bilateral visit of a U.S. president since the Clinton administration.
(MZT/AG)
© Copyright 2016 DTN/The Progressive Farmer. All rights reserved.