Trump Will Tighten Cuba Travel Policies, Not Reverse Them
Photo Credit: President Trump will make an announcement in Miami on Friday on the United States' official policy on Cuba. Pictured are JetBlue workers in Cuba last year. JetBlue
Skift Take
This isn't the worst-case scenario for Cuba that some U.S. travel brands had feared but it is a step backward and doesn't offer any clear glimpse of a path forward.
President Donald Trump won’t entirely reverse former President Obama’s liberalized policies on Americans traveling to Cuba but he will tighten Treasury Department audits of trips to ensure they fall within the 12 approved categories and that money does not go to the Cuban government or military.
The Trump Administration does, however, intend to end individual people-to-people travel to Cuba for Americans, which was one of the 12 approved categories of travel under Obama’s Cuba travel policies. For U.S. citizens who have already booked an individual people-to-people trip to Cuba, the Treasury Department will be reviewing cases.
A White House official who requested anonymity said that the president's revised Cuba policy “is very much a promise that he made, that he took seriously, that he kept,” during a media call on Thursday. “The basic policy driver was his concern that the previous policy was enriching Cuban military and intelligence services that contribute so much
