Cuba Agricultural Exports Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 1898 To modify the prohibition on United States assistance and financing for certain exports to Cuba under the Trade Sanctions Reform and Export Enhancement Act of 2000, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MARCH 27, 2019 Mr. CRAWFORD (for himself and Mrs. BUSTOS) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and in addition to the Committees on Financial Services, and Agriculture, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consider- ation of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned A BILL To modify the prohibition on United States assistance and financing for certain exports to Cuba under the Trade Sanctions Reform and Export Enhancement Act of 2000, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Cuba Agricultural Ex- 4 ports Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:38 Apr 08, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1898.IH H1898 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 1898 IH SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 1 Congress finds the following: 2 (1) The United States has a long history of 3 providing safe and reliable exports. Close proximity 4 to Cuba lends itself to low transportation costs for 5 United States goods exported to Cuba. The United 6 States is geographically poised to be a significant 7 trading partner in agricultural commodities. 8 (2) Cuba imports approximately 80 percent of 9 its food, with global agricultural exports to Cuba 10 doubling over the past decade to $1,900,000,000. 11 (3) In 2015, the Obama administration re- 12 versed a prior rule of the Department of the Treas- 13 ury that defined ‘‘cash in advance’’ to require that 14 cash payments must be made before United States 15 products leave United States ports. The new rule de- 16 fines ‘‘cash in advance’’ as ‘‘cash before transfer of 17 title’’, facilitating more efficient trade with Cuba. 18 (4) The Trump administration has retained this 19 definition and stated in its National Security Presi- 20 dential Memorandum on Cuba that forthcoming reg- 21 ulatory changes shall not prohibit transactions that 22 support the sale of agricultural commodities con- 23 sistent with the Trade Sanctions Reform and Export 24 Enhancement Act of 2000. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:38 Apr 08, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1898.IH H1898 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 1898 IH (5) United States agricultural exporters are still 1 not permitted to extend credit to Cuban buyers, in- 2 cluding ALIMPORT, a State-owned and State-con- 3 trolled entity that makes all decisions regarding 4 United States exports to the Cuban market. As a re- 5 sult, United States agricultural exports to Cuba 6 have declined and United States exporters face a key 7 disadvantage relative to other exporting countries. 8 Notably, rice exports fell from a value of 9 $64,000,000 in 2004 to essentially $0 in 2009 and 10 subsequent years. 11 (6) Despite these restrictions, the United States 12 has been the largest exporter of agricultural goods 13 to Cuba over the last decade. However, the United 14 States slipped to being the second leading exporter 15 of agricultural goods to Cuba in 2013 and the third 16 leading exporter of agricultural goods to Cuba in 17 2014. For many of Cuba’s top agricultural imports, 18 such as wheat, rice, and dairy, there have been no 19 transactions with the United States in well over a 20 decade. 21 (7) While trade opportunities exist, Cuba re- 22 mains an undemocratic autocracy that oppresses its 23 own people and restricts freedom. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:38 Apr 08, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1898.IH H1898 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 1898 IH (8) With these cautionary factors in mind, it is 1 important to provide United States farmers and 2 ranchers additional opportunities to benefit from 3 trade with Cuba. 4 SEC. 3. MODIFICATION OF PROHIBITION ON UNITED 5 STATES ASSISTANCE AND FINANCING FOR 6 CERTAIN EXPORTS TO CUBA UNDER THE 7 TRADE SANCTIONS REFORM AND EXPORT EN- 8 HANCEMENT ACT OF 2000. 9 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 908 of the Trade Sanc- 10 tions Reform and Export Enhancement Act of 2000 (22 11 U.S.C. 7207) is amended as follows: 12 (1) In the section heading, by striking ‘‘AND 13 FINANCING’’. 14 (2) In subsection (a), by adding at the end the 15 following: 16 ‘‘(4) EXCEPTION FOR CERTAIN PROGRAMS.— 17 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Subject to subpara- 18 graph (B), paragraph (1) shall not apply with 19 respect to— 20 ‘‘(i) exports to Cuba under section 21 202 of the Agricultural Trade Act of 1978 22 (7 U.S.C. 5622), section 203 of the Agri- 23 cultural Trade Act of 1978 (7 U.S.C. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:38 Apr 08, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1898.IH H1898 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 1898 IH 5623), or section 702 of the Agricultural 1 Trade Act of 1978 (7 U.S.C. 5722); or 2 ‘‘(ii) any obligation or expenditure of 3 funds to promote trade with Cuba by Fed- 4 eral commodity promotion programs estab- 5 lished in accordance with a commodity pro- 6 motion law, as defined by section 501(a) of 7 the Federal Agriculture Improvement and 8 Reform Act of 1996 (7 U.S.C. 7401(a)). 9 ‘‘(B) RESTRICTION ON CERTAIN RECIPI- 10 ENTS.—The exceptions under subparagraph (A) 11 shall not apply if the recipient of the United 12 States assistance would be an entity controlled 13 by the Government of Cuba, including the Rev- 14 olutionary Armed Forces of Cuba, the Ministry 15 of the Interior of Cuba, and any subdivision of 16 either such governmental entity.’’. 17 (3) In subsection (b), to read as follows: 18 ‘‘(b) FINANCING OF SALES OF AGRICULTURAL COM- 19 MODITIES TO CUBA.— 20 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—A person subject to the ju- 21 risdiction of the United States may provide payment 22 or financing for sales of agricultural commodities to 23 Cuba or to an individual or entity in Cuba. 24 ‘‘(2) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:38 Apr 08, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1898.IH H1898 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 1898 IH ‘‘(A) AGRICULTURAL COMMODITY.—The 1 term ‘agricultural commodity’ has the meaning 2 given that term in section 102 of the Agricul- 3 tural Trade Act of 1978 (7 U.S.C. 5602). 4 ‘‘(B) FINANCING.—The term ‘financing’ 5 includes any loan or extension of credit.’’. 6 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Subsection (f)(4) 7 of section 203 of the Agricultural Trade Act of 1978 (7 8 U.S.C. 5623), as amended by section 3201 of title III of 9 the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018 (Public Law 10 115–334), is further amended by striking ‘‘Notwith- 11 standing’’ and all that follows through ‘‘funds made avail- 12 able’’ and inserting ‘‘Funds made available’’. 13 SEC. 4. AUTHORITY OF PERSONS SUBJECT TO THE JURIS- 14 DICTION OF THE UNITED STATES TO INVEST 15 WITH RESPECT TO CERTAIN AGRICULTURAL 16 BUSINESS IN CUBA. 17 (a) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other provi- 18 sion of law, a person subject to the jurisdiction of the 19 United States may make an investment with respect to 20 the development of an agricultural business in Cuba if the 21 Secretary of State and Secretary of Agriculture jointly de- 22 termine that— 23 (1) the agricultural business is not controlled by 24 the Government of Cuba, including the Revolu- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:38 Apr 08, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1898.IH H1898 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 1898 IH tionary Armed Forces of Cuba, the Ministry of the 1 Interior of Cuba, or any subdivision of either such 2 governmental entity; and 3 (2) the agricultural business does not traffic in 4 the property of persons subject to the jurisdiction of 5 the United States that was confiscated by the Cuban 6 Government on or after January 1, 1959. 7 (b) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 8 (1) AGRICULTURAL BUSINESS.—The term ‘‘ag- 9 ricultural business’’ means any entity involved in the 10 production, manufacture, or distribution of agricul- 11 tural products (as such term is defined in section 12 207 of the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946 (7 13 U.S.C. 1626)). 14 (2) CONFISCATED, CUBAN GOVERNMENT, PROP- 15 ERTY, AND TRAFFIC.—The terms ‘‘confiscated’’, 16 ‘‘Cuban Government’’, ‘‘property’’, and ‘‘traffic’’ 17 have the meanings given such terms in section 4 of 18 the Cuban Liberty and Democratic Solidarity 19 (LIBERTAD) Act of 1996 (22 U.S.C. 6023). 20 (3) INVESTMENT.—The term ‘‘investment’’, 21 with respect to the development of an agricultural 22 business in Cuba, means— 23 (A) entry into a contract involving the pur- 24 chase of a share of ownership, including an eq- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:38 Apr 08, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1898.IH H1898 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 1898 IH uity interest, in the development of the agricul- 1 tural business; 2 (B) entry into a contract providing for par- 3 ticipation in royalties, earnings, or profits in 4 the development of the agricultural business; or 5 (C) entry into, or performance or financing 6 of, a contract to sell goods, services, or tech- 7 nology relating to the agricultural business. 8 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:38 Apr 08, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H1898.IH H1898 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS