The first shipment in years of US rice to Cuba arrived on the island amid a trade delegation led by Gov. Jay Nixon (D-Mo.).
Twenty tons of the commodity earlier this week reached the Port of Mariel, near Havana, courtesy of the Missouri-based Martin Rice Company.
Cuban trade minister Maria de la Luz B’Hamel called the gift “a symbol on the start of lasting relationships that could be strengthened with all US agricultural producers,” according to a Cuban state news report published Monday.
The US used to be a leading exporter of rice and other agricultural products to Cuba before Washington imposed a trade embargo on the island in 1960. The Eisenhower administration cut off commercial ties with Cuba after forces led by Fidel Castro overthrew a US-backed dictatorship and nationalized private sector assets.
Cuba had not imported US rice since late last decade, according to a US Department of Agriculture report published last June. The study also noted about 40 percent of Cuban rice imports in 2004 came from the US, years after Congress and the Clinton Administration enacted some embargo relief.
President Obama’s move in 2014 to normalize relations with Cuba has received noteworthy backing from American agribusinesses. On Monday, Gov. Nixon noted that farm exports from his state are worth about $2.5 billion, and said he was in Havana to “expand opportunities to get Missouri goods to Cuban consumers.”
Missouri was the first state to dispatch a trade delegation to Cuba after the detente between Washington and Havana was announced. It is ranked fourth in the country in rice production.
The push from Missouri comes as officials from other states and both major political parties jostle for access to Cuban markets. Last week, Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and Rep. Tom Emmer (D-Minn.) asked agricultural producers from Minnesota to lobby colleagues on relaxing trade restrictions. The request came the same day that the Louisiana legislature passed a resolution urging the state to “develop and improve” trade with Cuba, according to the AP.
Despite the improvement in ties between Havana and Washington under the Obama administration, the volume of US exports to Cuba has shrunk annually since 2012. In that time frame, the Cuban economy has grown by more than 2.5 percent per year on average.
In January, the Obama administration relaxed some restrictions on financing US exports to Cuba. The move was blasted by Republican supporters of the embargo.
“The Obama administration’s one-sided concessions to Cuba further empower the regime and enable it with an economic windfall,” Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) said, amid his failing presidential campaign.
