United States-Cuba Trade Act of 2003

Bill: 108-s-403
Sponsor: Sen. Baucus, Max [D-MT]
Introduced: 2003-02-13 in the Senate
Policy area: International Affairs
Subjects: Agriculture and Food
Agriculture in foreign trade
Aliens
American property in foreign countries
Armed Forces and National Security
Caribbean area
Civil Rights and Liberties, Minority Issues
Civil actions and liability
Commerce
Debt relief
Democracy
Development credit institutions
Drugs
EBB Terrorism
Economic assistance
Economics and Public Finance
Embargo
Energy
Export controls
Export finance
Expropriation
Federally-guaranteed loans
Foreign Trade and International Finance
Foreign investments
Foreign loans
Foreign tax credit
Government Operations and Politics
Government lending
Government liability (International law)
Health
Human rights
Immigration
Import restrictions
Income tax
Intellectual property
International agencies
International broadcasting
International claims
Latin America
Law
Liability (Law)
Medical supplies
Merchant ships
Most favored nation principle
Negotiations
Normal trade relations
Nuclear facilities
Postal service
President and foreign policy
Right of property
Right to travel
Sanctions (International law)
Science, Technology, Communications
State-sponsored terrorism
Sugar
Taxation
Telecommunication industry
Telecommunication systems
Telephone
Television broadcasting
Trade agreements
Trademarks
Trading with the enemy
Transportation and Public Works
V-chips
Visas

Summary:
action_date: 2003-02-13
text: United States-Cuba Trade Act of 2003 - Amends the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (including other specified laws) to repeal the embargo placed upon all trade with Cuba.
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to declare the denial of foreign tax credit inapplicable to Cuba (except that such requirement shall apply to countries that have been determined to repeatedly provide support for acts of international terrorism).
Permits: (1) installation and maintenance of telecommunications equipment and facilities in Cuba, including telecommunications services between the United States and Cuba; and (2) travel to and from Cuba by U.S. citizens or residents.
Requires the U.S. Postal Service to provide direct mail service to and from Cuba.
Urges the President to take all necessary steps to conduct negotiations with the Government of Cuba to: (1) settle claims of U.S. nationals against Cuba for the taking of property; and (2) secure protection of internationally recognized human rights.
Expresses the sense of Congress that: (1) the United States should promote democratic change and economic reform by normalizing trade relations with Cuba; and (2) upon the enactment of this Act, it will no longer be necessary for the United States to continue to use Article XXI of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) 1994 with respect to Cuba, understanding that the President retains full authority to invoke Article XXI and comparable provisions in other Uruguay Round Agreements in the future in all appropriate circumstances.
Amends the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States to extend nondiscriminatory treatment (normal trade relations) to the products of Cuba.
Prohibits the Secretary of the Treasury from limiting the amount of remittances to Cuba that any U.S. person may make. Declares that this prohibition does not prohibit the prosecution or conviction of any person committing a criminal offense relating to the laundering of money or engaging in monetary transactions in property derived from unlawful activities.

Legislative actions:
action_date: 2003-02-13
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.
action_date: 2003-02-13
text: Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR S2478-2479)
action_date: 2003-02-13
text: Introduced in Senate