U.S., Cuba trade talks resume this week

The U.S. government has given permission to a small company to build a factory in Cuba, marking the first U.S. investment there since Fidel Castro nationalized American private property in 1959.    The Obama administration continues to make incremental progress toward normalizing trade with Cuba after restoring diplomatic relations with the Communist nation in 2015.
   U.S. and Cuban officials are scheduled to meet Wednesday and Thursday in Washington to iron out details for regulatory changes enacted on Jan. 27 that affect the export and financing of certain goods and services authorized for Cuba. They will also discuss challenges identified by U.S. companies interested in doing business in Cuba. The Cuban delegation will discuss how its economic system works, including the process for importing goods and services and conducting financial transactions.
   Last year, President Obama signed several executive orders that carve out exceptions to the trade embargo with Cuba. Full-scale trade will require Congress to lift the embargo. Public opinion is gradually shifting towards ending the Cold War with Cuba, but many lawmakers, afraid of upsetting the Cuban-American community, say they want the embargo to remain in place until Cuba’s government becomes more democratic and allows its people more freedoms.
   Meanwhile, the Treasury Department this month gave approval to a small company in Alabama to open a plant in Cuba to manufacture small tractors for sale to private farmers, according to the Associated Press.
   U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx and his Cuban counterpart Tuesday morning signed an agreement authorizing the first regularly scheduled commercial flights between the two nations in more than 60 years.