Group urges early Obama easing of Cuba sanctions
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President-elect Barack Obama should reinvigorate U.S. trade ties in Latin America and the Caribbean during his first 90 days in office by softening the most punitive sanctions on Cuba, a leading business group said on Monday.
"That could have an electrifying effect in terms of hemispheric atmosphere," Eric Farnsworth, vice president at the Council of the Americas, said at a briefing on the group's recommendations for U.S. trade policy in the region.
The report urged Obama to ease restrictions on visiting and sending money to Cuba, as well as cultural and other exchanges, before regional leaders hold a Summit of the Americas meeting in Port of Spain, Trinidad on April 17-19.
Obama has pledged to soften restrictions on family travel and remittances but said he would keep the four-decade-old embargo as leverage to influence changes in the one-party state where Fidel Castro seized power in a 1959 revolution.
The Council of the Americas report encouraged Obama to take other steps to generate goodwill in the region, including appointing a special White House envoy for the Americas and supporting Brazil, Mexico and Spain's admission into the so-called Group of Eight nations, a rich country forum for coordinating economic policies.
The group also urged Obama to ask Congress to approve pending free trade agreements with Panama and Colombia before the Americas summit, although Farnsworth acknowledged the president-elect may not take that advice.
Obama has insisted that Colombia do more to reduce murders of trade unionists and other violence before Congress approves the pact. The agreement with Panama is less controversial, but Obama and Congress are expected to focus early efforts on a new economic stimulus package rather than trade pacts.
Obama met with Mexican President Felipe Calderon on Monday to discuss trade and the drug war and will make his first international trip as U.S. president to Canada.
Obama has promised to work with both nations to "fix" the North American Free Trade Agreement by adding stronger labor and environmental provisions.
It is unlikely those talks will lead to an unraveling
of the agreement, as some business groups have warned, said Gary Hufbauer, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economic.
However, there could substantive changes to the 15-year-old pact to address regional concerns about energy security and climate change, Hufbauer said.
The Council of the Americas report also recommended Obama pursue Bush administration initiatives to integrate existing trade agreements in Asia and the Americas.
(Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
