Barack Obama extended fora further year the embargo by the United States against Cuba. Ina memorandum to theSecretary of State andthe Treasury Department, the American presidentrenewsthe application ofthe 1917Trade with the Enemy Act, a law from thetime of the FirstWorld War.
Restrictionsin force would have hadexpiredon September14, 2014″Therefore, it determined that the continuationfor one yearof the exercise ofthese measuresregardingCubaisin the national interestof the United States,” the document sent byObama tomembers ofhis cabinet reads.
TheTradingwith theEnemyAct of1917, abbreviated as TWEA, gives thePresident of the UnitedStatesthe power to restrictsome orall trade witha country thatWashingtonconsidershostile.
The White House renews the validity of such legislation each year in early September. Cuba is the only country subject to restrictions by this law, after North Korea saw the end of its trade restrictions with the United States in June 2008, by decision of the administration of George W. Bush.
Obama renews TWEA ten months after his statements in favor of a change in relations with Cuba, just weeks before his shaking hands with Cuban President Raul Castro, who has said from the beginning of his term his desire for normalization of relations with Washington.
