Unleash sales to Cuba

The American Farm Bureau and other ag business groups are supporting a bill in Congress that would less restrictions on sales to Cuba. The legislation was introduced in the Senate by Sens. Max Baucus, D-Mont, and and Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, , and in the House by Reps. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., and Jo Ann Emerson, R-Mo.

Here is an explanation of the legislative fix sought, from the National Foreign Trade Council:

For four years, Cuban buyers made cash payments (through third-country banks, as required by TSREEA) to U.S. sellers in advance of taking title or physical control of the goods. The goods were often at sea or in Havana at the time the seller received payment, and then released the goods to the Cuban buyer. In 2005, the Treasury Department issued a final rule that in order to comply with TSREEA, sellers would need to receive payment before the goods shipped from a U.S. port. Many in Congress objected to this interpretation of cash-in-advance payment. If Cuba had paid for goods sitting in a U.S. port, the goods could be at risk of seizure to satisfy unrelated private claims against the Cuban government. Since the rule was implemented, Cuba has not bought U.S. agricultural products on a cash basis, and total U.S. agricultural sales to Cuba have dropped for the past two years. This section (identical to language in S.328, 109th Congress) would define cash-in-advance payment as payment made before the seller will relinquish title or physical control of the goods to the Cuban buyer.