I 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 525 

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 

JANUARY 13, 2017 

Mr. CRAWFORD (for himself, Mr. CONAWAY, Mr. ABRAHAM, Mr. POE of 

Texas, Mr. COMER, Ms. LEE, Ms. KELLY of Illinois, Ms. DELBENE, Mr. 

FARENTHOLD, Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi, Mr. MOULTON, Mr. 

EMMER, Ms. MCCOLLUM, Ms. CASTOR of Florida, Mr. HARPER, Mr. 

WESTERMAN, Mr. ROKITA, Mr. MARSHALL, Mr. SMITH of Missouri, Mr. 

RODNEY DAVIS of Illinois, Mr. PALAZZO, Mr. YOUNG of Alaska, Mr. 

THOMPSON of Pennsylvania, Mr. BANKS of Indiana, Mrs. BUSTOS, Mr. 

BEYER, and Mr. JONES) 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 consideration 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. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Cuba Agricultural Ex3 ports Act’’. 

4 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

5 Congress finds the following: 

6 (1) The United States has a long history of 

7 providing safe and reliable exports. Close proximity 

8 to Cuba lends itself to low transportation costs for 

9 United States goods exported to Cuba. The United 

10 States is geographically poised to be a significant 

11 trading partner in agricultural commodities. 

12 (2) Cuba imports approximately 80 percent of 

13 its food, with global agricultural exports to Cuba 

14 doubling over the past decade to $1,900,000,000. 

15 (3) In 2005, the United States Department of 

16 the Treasury published a final rule narrowing the 

17 definition of ‘‘cash in advance’’ for trading with 

18 Cuba, requiring that cash payments must be made 

19 before United States products leave United States 

20 ports, rather than the more customary payment 

21 upon delivery. United States firms are precluded 

22 from offering credit to ALIMPORT, a state-owned 

23 and state-controlled entity that makes all decisions 

24 regarding United States exports to the Cuban mar25 ket, resulting in declining United States agricultural 

26 exports to Cuba. Notably, rice exports fell from a 


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1 value of $64,000,000 in 2004 to essentially $0 in 

2 2009 and subsequent years. 

3 (4) Recent action by the Obama administration 

4 reversed that change to the definition of cash in ad5 vance, but United States agricultural exporters are 

6 still not permitted to extend credit to Cuban buyers, 

7 a key disadvantage relative to other exporting coun8 tries. 

9 (5) In addition, there is no opportunity for 

10 United States agricultural businesses to trade di11 rectly with the Cuban people and there is no Cuban 

12 market; United States businesses have only one 

13 venue to trade with Cuba and that is through 

14 ALIMPORT, the state-owned and state-controlled 

15 entity described in paragraph (3). 

16 (6) Despite these restrictions, the United States 

17 has been the largest exporter of agricultural goods 

18 to Cuba over the last decade. However, the United 

19 States slipped to being the second leading exporter 

20 of agricultural goods to Cuba in 2013 and the third 

21 leading exporter of agricultural goods to Cuba in 

22 2014. 

23 (7) While trade opportunities exist, Cuba re24 mains an undemocratic autocracy that oppresses its 

25 own people and restricts freedom. 


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1 (8) With these cautionary factors in mind, it is 

2 important to provide United States farmers and 

3 ranchers additional opportunities to benefit from 

4 trade with Cuba. 

5 SEC. 3. MODIFICATION OF PROHIBITION ON UNITED 

6 STATES ASSISTANCE AND FINANCING FOR 

7 CERTAIN EXPORTS TO CUBA UNDER THE 

8 TRADE SANCTIONS REFORM AND EXPORT EN9 HANCEMENT ACT OF 2000. 

10 Section 908 of the Trade Sanctions Reform and Ex11 port Enhancement Act of 2000 (22 U.S.C. 7207) is 

12 amended as follows: 

13 (1) In the section heading, by striking ‘‘AND

14 FINANCING’’. 

15 (2) In subsection (a), by adding at the end the 

16 following: 

17 ‘‘(4) EXCEPTION FOR CERTAIN PROGRAMS.— 

18 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Subject to subpara19 graph (B), paragraph (1) shall not apply with 

20 respect to— 

21 ‘‘(i) exports to Cuba under section 

22 202 of the Agricultural Trade Act of 1978 

23 (7 U.S.C. 5622), section 203 of the Agri24 cultural Trade Act of 1978 (7 U.S.C. 


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1 5623), or section 702 of the Agricultural 

2 Trade Act of 1978 (7 U.S.C. 5722); or 

3 ‘‘(ii) any obligation or expenditure of 

4 funds to promote trade with Cuba by Fed5 eral commodity promotion programs estab6 lished in accordance with a commodity pro7 motion law, as defined by section 501(a) of 

8 the Federal Agriculture Improvement and 

9 Reform Act of 1996 (7 U.S.C. 7401(a)). 

10 ‘‘(B) RESTRICTION ON CERTAIN RECIPI11 ENTS.—The exceptions under subparagraph (A) 

12 shall not apply if the recipient of the United 

13 States assistance would be an entity controlled 

14 by the Government of Cuba, including the Rev15 olutionary Armed Forces of Cuba, the Ministry 

16 of the Interior of Cuba, and any subdivision of 

17 either such governmental entity.’’. 

18 (3) In subsection (b), to read as follows: 

19 ‘‘(b) FINANCING OF SALES OF AGRICULTURAL COM20 MODITIES TO CUBA.— 

21 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—A person subject to the ju22 risdiction of the United States may provide payment 

23 or financing for sales of agricultural commodities to 

24 Cuba or to an individual or entity in Cuba. 

25 ‘‘(2) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 


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1 ‘‘(A) AGRICULTURAL COMMODITY.—The 

2 term ‘agricultural commodity’ has the meaning 

3 given that term in section 102 of the Agricul4 tural Trade Act of 1978 (7 U.S.C. 5602). 

5 ‘‘(B) FINANCING.—The term ‘financing’ 

6 includes any loan or extension of credit.’’. 

7 SEC. 4. AUTHORITY OF PERSONS SUBJECT TO THE JURIS8 DICTION OF THE UNITED STATES TO INVEST 

9 WITH RESPECT TO CERTAIN AGRICULTURAL 

10 BUSINESS IN CUBA. 

11 (a) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other provi12 sion of law, a person subject to the jurisdiction of the 

13 United States may make an investment with respect to 

14 the development of an agricultural business in Cuba if the 

15 Secretary of State and Secretary of Agriculture jointly de16 termine that— 

17 (1) the agricultural business is not controlled by 

18 the Government of Cuba, including the Revolu19 tionary Armed Forces of Cuba, the Ministry of the 

20 Interior of Cuba, or any subdivision of either such 

21 governmental entity; and 

22 (2) the agricultural business does not traffic in 

23 the property of persons subject to the jurisdiction of 

24 the United States that was confiscated by the Cuban 

25 Government on or after January 1, 1959. 


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1 (b) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

2 (1) AGRICULTURAL BUSINESS.—The term ‘‘ag3 ricultural business’’ means any entity involved in the 

4 production, manufacture, or distribution of agricul5 tural products (as such term is defined in section 

6 207 of the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946 (7 

7 U.S.C. 1626)). 

8 (2) CONFISCATED, CUBAN GOVERNMENT, PROP9 ERTY, AND TRAFFIC.—The terms ‘‘confiscated’’, 

10 ‘‘Cuban Government’’, ‘‘property’’, and ‘‘traffic’’ 

11 have the meanings given such terms in section 4 of 

12 the Cuban Liberty and Democratic Solidarity 

13 (LIBERTAD) Act of 1996 (22 U.S.C. 6023). 

14 (3) INVESTMENT.—The term ‘‘investment’’, 

15 with respect to the development of an agricultural 

16 business in Cuba, means— 

17 (A) entry into a contract involving the pur18 chase of a share of ownership, including an eq19 uity interest, in the development of the agricul20 tural business; 

21 (B) entry into a contract providing for par22 ticipation in royalties, earnings, or profits in 

23 the development of the agricultural business; or 


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1 (C) entry into, or performance or financing 

2 of, a contract to sell goods, services, or tech3 nology relating to the agricultural business. 

Æ 


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