A Constructive Engagement with Cuba

In the coming days, President Obama must decide whether to renew the Trading with the Enemy Act (TWTEA), which is set to expire on September 14th. TWTEA is the original legislation that was used to implement and sustain the embargo on trade with Cuba, the longest interdiction of its kind in human history. Due to the flood of more recent laws widening and reinforcing the scope of the embargo (most notably the Helms-Burton Act of 1996), allowing TWTEA to expire would not have any tangible effect on existing restrictive sanctions. However, the symbolic nature of such a gesture should not be underestimated. Abrogating a mere symbol of the embargo would represent a significant step towards developing a constructive relationship with Havana, and in a broader context, the opportunity provides the Obama administration one more occasion to establish positive momentum in its engagement with Latin America.

TWTEA, enac ted in anticipation of World War I in 1917, grants the president wide-reaching economic authority in times of war. In 1933, the act was extended to apply to national emergencies, only to be returned to an exclusively war-time power in 1977. It currently allows for the continuation of sanctions initiated in the 44 years between, as is the case with Cuba, which was declared an “international emergency” by President Kennedy in 1963, through annual renewal by the president. Cuba now stands as the only country subject to TWTEA, after the Bush administration declined to renew U.S. sanctions against North Korea in 2008 in exchange for Pyongyang’s agreement to release details of its nuclear program, and sanctions against Havana have been renewed annually by every president since Jimmy Carter.

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