Possible Agreement on Ag Trade With Cuba?

By Don Molino, Voice of Louisiana Agriculture Radio Network

During his report on the Voice of Louisiana Agriculture Radio Network, Louisiana Commissioner of Agriculture and Forestry Dr. Mike Strain said a possible solution may have been worked out in Washington to resume US agriculture shipments to Cuba.

Strain quoted a recent article in the Miami Herald.

The congressional battle between lawmakers from farming states and Cuban American colleagues on funding food exports to Cuba could be coming to an end thanks to an “elegant” solution that is part of proposed legislation: a 2 percent user fee on agricultural products sold to the island that would be used to compensate those who have certified claims of properties confiscated by the Cuban government.

“We know there are a significant number of Cuban Americans who are aggrieved because they had their properties thieved years ago in the revolution,” said Arkansas Rep. Rick Crawford, the bill’s sponsor. “We have come out with a vehicle by which they actually receive compensation, which is a key component of the legislation.

“Every transaction will have a two percent excise fee that would be collected and administered to certified claimants through the Treasury Department,” he said.

“The 2% user fee functions like an excise tax on the total sale, and it is paid by the seller of the agricultural product,” added a staffer from Crawford’s office.

More than 6,000 certified claims from U.S. companies and citizens are currently worth about $8 billion. However, thousands of Cuban-American claims are not certified.

The bill, which has not yet been submitted, proposes to remove restrictions on the financing of exports of food, dairy products and other agricultural products to Cuba. Under current policy, it is legal to export these products but they can only be paid in cash and it is not possible to offer credit to Havana. The bill, which would only authorize private credit, would be supported by Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue, according to his testimony at a hearing before the House Committee on Agriculture on May 17.

Prior to the embargo by the US, most of the agriculture exports from this country traveled to Cuba though the ports of Louisiana.