ITC Probes Economic Impact of Cuba Sanctions

April 17, 2000

The U.S. International Trade Commission has begun an investigation to assess the economic impact on the United States from U.S. sanctions on Cuba. U.S. agriculture will receive "particular attention" from the probe, requested by the House Ways and Means Committee.

Included in the report will be evaluations of the current impact on U.S.-Cuban bilateral trade, investment, employment and consumers of the economic sanctions on trade and investment with Cuba with particular attention to the effects on U.S. services, agriculture and other sectors for which the impact likely will be significant, ITC said in the announcement.

Also in the report will be an overview of U.S. sanctions with respect to Cuba; a description of the Cuban economy, Cuban trade and investment policies and trade and investment trends, and an analysis of the historical impact of U.S. sanctions on both economies, especially on affected sectors and, "to the extent possible, on U.S. exports, imports, employment, consumers and investment."

The ITC said the report would include information on those factors "to the extent data are available and using, as appropriate, a combination of quantitative and qualitative analyses." The report is to be submitted to Ways and Means by Feb. 15, 2001.

A public hearing will be held in connection with the investigation on Sept. 19 at 9:30 a.m. at the ITC building, 500 E St. SW, Washington, DC. Requests to appear at the hearing should be filed no later than 5:15 p.m. Aug. 29 with the Secretary, U.S. International Trade Commission, 500 E St. SW, Washington, DC 20436.

The ITC also will accept written submissions for the record. One original and 14 copies should be submitted no later than Oct. 4 to the same address as used for requests to appear.

ITC investigations, such as this one, include matters related to tariffs or trade and are conducted generally at the request of the U.S. trade representative, the Senate Finance Committee or the House Ways and Means Committee. The commission makes no recommendations on policy or other matters in its general reports.

Information on the scope of the investigation and appropriate submissions is available on the Internet at http://www.usitc.gov.