U.S. Rep. Cheri Bustos, D-East Moline, is pictured (left) during the recent Illinois Cuba Working Group�s Agricultural Trade Mission to Havana, Cuba.
U.S. Rep. Cheri Bustos, D-East Moline, has returned from a trip to Cuba convinced there’s considerable opportunity for Illinois farmers to expand their business with the island.
She said she wants to assist with the opening of an Illinois Cuba Working Group office in Havana and work in Congress to find a way to provide credit to Cuban importers so they can buy more Illinois agricultural products.
Rep. Bustos, who returned Wednesday from a four-day trip to Cuba with U.S. Rep. Rodney Davis, R-Taylorville, and a group of business officials, said a lack of access to credit is the biggest impediment to expanding trade between Illinois farmers and Cuba.
Last year, President Obama restored diplomatic relations with Cuba and last month loosened travel and commercial restrictions with the communist nation. A trade embargo remains in place but agricultural products are exempted.
Asked about the embargo Friday, Rep. Bustos said lifting the embargo is a “long-term goal” she hopes to persuade Congress to work towards.
Her trip to Cuba was sponsored by the Illinois Cuba Working Group, whose members include the Illinois Farm Bureau, Cargill, ADM and the Illinois Corn Growers Association.
U.S. agricultural exports to Cuba have fallen substantially, from $570 million in 2009 to about $300 million last year, according to a recent U.S. Department of Agriculture report.
According to the report, the primary reason for the decline is increased competition from countries such as Brazil and Europeans nations. Those countries, the USDA report notes, are able to offer credit to Cuban import authorities.
Federal rules prohibit U.S. exporters from offering credit to Cuba and exports must be purchased using cash or through third-party guarantees from foreign banks, according to the USDA.
The $300 million in U.S. agricultural exports to Cuba in 2014 made up 16 percent of Cuba’s $1.9 billion in agricultural imports for that year, according to the USDA report, which shows there’s room for the U.S. to capture a bigger share of the market.
Rep. Bustos met with Cuban government officials and toured a local farm during her trip. She said she didn’t encounter any anti-American sentiment on the trip, although many of the Cubans she met called for the trade embargo to be lifted.
The trade embargo was imposed by the U.S. 50 years ago, following the Cuban revolution, which overthrew the U.S.-backed Batista dictatorship
U.S. Rep. Cheri Bustos, D-East Moline, has returned from a trip to Cuba convinced there’s considerable opportunity for Illinois farmers to expand their business with the island.
She said she wants to assist with the opening of an Illinois Cuba Working Group office in Havana and work in Congress to find a way to provide credit to Cuban importers so they can buy more Illinois agricultural products.
Rep. Bustos, who returned Wednesday from a four-day trip to Cuba with U.S. Rep. Rodney Davis, R-Taylorville, and a group of business officials, said a lack of access to credit is the biggest impediment to expanding trade between Illinois farmers and Cuba.
Last year, President Obama restored diplomatic relations with Cuba and last month loosened travel and commercial restrictions with the communist nation. A trade embargo remains in place but agricultural products are exempted.
Asked about the embargo Friday, Rep. Bustos said lifting the embargo is a “long-term goal” she hopes to persuade Congress to work towards.
Her trip to Cuba was sponsored by the Illinois Cuba Working Group, whose members include the Illinois Farm Bureau, Cargill, ADM and the Illinois Corn Growers Association.
U.S. agricultural exports to Cuba have fallen substantially, from $570 million in 2009 to about $300 million last year, according to a recent U.S. Department of Agriculture report.
According to the report, the primary reason for the decline is increased competition from countries such as Brazil and Europeans nations. Those countries, the USDA report notes, are able to offer credit to Cuban import authorities.
Federal rules prohibit U.S. exporters from offering credit to Cuba and exports must be purchased using cash or through third-party guarantees from foreign banks, according to the USDA.
The $300 million in U.S. agricultural exports to Cuba in 2014 made up 16 percent of Cuba’s $1.9 billion in agricultural imports for that year, according to the USDA report, which shows there’s room for the U.S. to capture a bigger share of the market.
Rep. Bustos met with Cuban government officials and toured a local farm during her trip. She said she didn’t encounter any anti-American sentiment on the trip, although many of the Cubans she met called for the trade embargo to be lifted.
The trade embargo was imposed by the U.S. 50 years ago, following the Cuban revolution, which overthrew the U.S.-backed Batista dictatorship and put a communist government led by Fidel Castro in charge.
