Bottles of Havana Club rum are displayed inside a shop in Havana, Cuba November 25, 2015. REUTERS/Alexandre Meneghini/File Photo
The United States on Friday announced new measures
to further ease trade, travel and financial restrictions on Cuba as President
Barack Obama seeks to make his opening to the communist-ruled island
irreversible before he leaves office in January.
The changes, the latest in a series of new rules
since the two former Cold War foes began normalizing relations in December
2014, will allow export to Cuba of some U.S. consumer goods sold online and let
U.S. firms improve Cuban infrastructure for humanitarian purposes, the U.S.
Treasury and Commerce Departments said in a statement.
They also lift limits on the amount of Cuban rum and
cigars U.S. travelers can bring home for personal use.
The measures are contained in the latest Obama
administration order on Cuba to sidestep the Republican-controlled Congress.
The U.S. Congress has resisted Obama's call to lift
Washington's more than five-decade-old economic embargo on Cuba.
Other changes announced on Friday include allowing
U.S. companies to provide safety-related services for commercial aircraft in
Cuba, where U.S. airlines are beginning regularly scheduled flights, and allow
Cuban pharmaceutical companies to apply for U.S. Food and Drug Administration
approval.
(Reporting by Matt Spetalnick; Additional reporting
by Susan Heavey; Editing by W Simon).
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