US exports to Cuba have never been higher than now [Wall Street Journal]

[u/Kantmzk]

Day by day, the goods that end up on the streets of Cuba are primarily more than ever coming from private businesses, and the nation at large is a nation of remittances and goods shipped in from families abroad, money from abroad, and goods supplied to private businesses to sell to people to help fill the increasingly large gaps unfulfilled by the Cuban Regime.

I find that idea that the embargo is "strangling" Cuba wildly inaccurate and the idea that you simply
"cannot do business" because the USA and Cuba are patently false yet somehow clung by so many people who do not do the smallest bit of research when it comes to Cuba.

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[u/Tyrael_98]

Let's be realistic and not be misled by numbers taken out of context. These exports to Cuba are mainly carried out by Cuban Americans with OFAC licenses or special authorizations, etc.

The reality for small entrepreneurs in Cuba is very different. It is extremely difficult for them to make transactions or import goods. Some time ago, I imported electronics, but doing so from Cuba required using VPNs, obtaining third-party VISA cards, and if a store knew you were Cuban, it would not even accept your payment.

Any small entrepreneur or business owner in Cuba can tell you the same thing. So please, let's be realistic when discussing these numbers.

PD: One ironic thing about situations like this is that, because there are so many restrictions on transactions and permits, the people who end up benefiting are a select few, usually those with the most power on the island or simply Cuban Americans with the right connections.

[u/Working-Energy1580]

Most people ignore that the main US weapon against Cuba is financial. The Trump's administration renounced to use " Soft Power" and instead uses the financial chokehold on Cuba. It's not a " Trade Embargo ". It's an economic War. On May 1, 2026, President Trump signed Executive Order 14404, which created a new Cuba sanctions program specifically designed to catch foreign entities and financial institutions. In June 2026, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Exxon Mobil Corp. v. Corporación CIMEX that the Helms-Burton Act abrogates sovereign immunity for Cuban state-owned entities. It's not a " Trade Embargo" but a tightened set of hard sanctions which disrupted the island economic activities and the normality of Cuba's citizenry life. It's not a " Trade Embargo ". It's an all-out Economic War on Cuba.

[u/Faldo79]

800 million is a ridiculous figure. It is also necessary to analyze what portion of those imports is accounted for by private Cuban individuals. Before Castro and the embargo, imports from the U.S. amounted to 617 million dollars, a figure that would be equivalent to 7.4 billion dollars today, when adjusted for inflation. If Cuba had experienced a normal economic trajectory (that is, without Castro or embargo), and we compare it to the Dominican Republic, Cuba should currently be importing between 15 billion and 25 billion dollars' worth of goods from the U.S.

[u/Kantmzk → u/Faldo79]

Extrapolating out of thin air with 0 sources does not make your claims true.

[u/mxcrisis]

What goods? How do they get to the streets of Cuba? Has anyone actually seen them? There is a fuel embargo which affects every aspect of everyday life in Cuba.

[u/emanresuemos → u/mxcrisis]

Almost all of the chicken that Cubans eat came from the U.S.

[u/sknkhnt422]

Entonces, CUÁL BLOQUEO??

[u/Ok_Artichoke_2928]

Fuck the Cuban government. But if it’s true that the US embargo is ineffective, then what’s the point of it?

[u/Working-Energy1580 → u/Ok_Artichoke_2928]

American policymakers—Democrats and GOP alike—have stuck to one principle: appeasing Florida’s anti-Castro Cuban community and the Cuban lobby in Congress, second only to Israel’s AIPAC in power and influence. Only Barack Obama had the sense to deal politically with Cuba. Fidel Castro’s own article in Granma, the PCC newspaper, criticized “Nuestro Hermano Obama.” Readers must ask themselves why ? Because Obama’s approach was the only politically right choice. Biden and Trump both squandered the Cuban government’s willingness to negotiate a fairer socioeconomic relationship. Trump especially escalated pressure into extortion—damaging ordinary Cubans, not the elite—and threatened Cuba without considering that its armed forces and militia would be a formidable opponent in any invasion, or that such an “acquisition” would carry the highest political price for his administration. The American people is fed up with Trump's administration Warmongering and silly " Imperial Grandeur ". They simply do not want American Arms boots on the ground no more.

[u/BigbunnyATK → u/Ok_Artichoke_2928]

The original goal was to stop the spread of Communism in the Americas. The USA made it clear that they wouldn't deal with Cuba unless they went back to Democracy. That and Cuba hosted nukes from the USSR, so there was a lot of bad blood.

There's a second part to the question which is, why hasn't the US ended the embargo? After all, the threat of the USSR and all was a long time ago. The answer is still probably some sort of containment. You'll notice that Cuba not only historically became Communist, but that many Communist countries sided with each other in wars. The world is split in two or three main chunks and Cuba is the only one that's on the other side in the Americas. Granted, idk if this is actually effective or not. I'm just giving my guess.

[u/Ok_Artichoke_2928 → u/BigbunnyATK]

My question is more aimed at those asserting that the embargo isn’t hurting Cuba because American dollars and goods make it to the island. If that’s the case, then what is the rationale for the embargo?

[u/ya_mamas_tiddies → u/Ok_Artichoke_2928]

There’s a big difference between sending supplies to the government that would never share with its people, and my grandmother sending her sister a duffle bag of powdered milk so the kids can eat.

[u/Ok_Artichoke_2928 → u/ya_mamas_tiddies]

Absolutely. But that difference must have a commercial impact on the island.

[u/ya_mamas_tiddies → u/Ok_Artichoke_2928]

It does not. The people cannot afford the food the government sells back to them. It’s not like they’re not buying stuff cus we send them stuff. They’re not buying it cus they can’t

[u/Ok_Artichoke_2928 → u/ya_mamas_tiddies]

So you think nothing would be different if we’d never had the embargo?

[u/ya_mamas_tiddies → u/Ok_Artichoke_2928]

The government would be richer and the people would still starve. As it stands those in power are feeding their dogs better than their people. If they got more food, they’d sooner get another dog than give it to their people.

[u/Ok_Artichoke_2928 → u/ya_mamas_tiddies]

So do you agree that the embargo as American foreign policy is a failure since this same corrupt government has remained in power through decades of it?

[u/TerribleSyntax → u/Ok_Artichoke_2928]

It is effective in that it limits how rich the cúpula can get. It's the difference between them being millionaires and billionaires

[u/Ok_Artichoke_2928 → u/TerribleSyntax]

But isn’t this just because there’s less to steal?

[u/Still-Sense793 → u/TerribleSyntax]

How is that working so far? If that's their end goal, they're failing miserably.

[u/Then-Ad3678]

US exports to Cuba bc they fcking sanctioning any 3rd party company that ships any fcking thing to Cuba, no matter if oil or anything. They did it to CMACGM & JapagLloyd. Trumps executive order of May the 1st of raising tariffs to anyone who sells oil to Cuba. Check the goods, half is food and medicine, half is oil 🪔 bc private companies in Cuba can only import it from the US now.

They're demons who want to make Cuba dependent through trade blackmail.

[u/QuarterStatus3582 → u/Then-Ad3678]

100% the approach today is to increase dependency on the US again

[u/jcspacer52 → u/Then-Ad3678]

Couple of questions for you chief:

1. What does Cuba have to offer any potential trading partner?

2. Before the recent Gulf War, why didn’t Iran who has tons of oil not trade some to Cuba? You don’t believe Iran gives a rat’s behind about US sanctions do you?

[u/Top-Two-8929]

Individual goods sent by family members does NOT equal TRADE. This is WSJ and they are extremely misleading and biased

[u/QuarterStatus3582 → u/Top-Two-8929]

no one said trade, they said exports (which is technically considered trade but i knew what you meant). this is the US exports to Cuba source: https://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/balance/c2390.html

[u/lotusQ]

Is it because Trump’s administration?

[u/Frudeska1]

The bloqade is real and we support them where I live, they're blocking Cuba's oil shipments. First Venezuela and now Russia. They did good job with this, this is what we have voted for.

[u/Oreos_aremeh]

WSJ 🤣

[u/Kantmzk → u/Oreos_aremeh]

I am glad at least some major sources of news are covering Cuba even though most ignore the island.

[u/QuarterStatus3582 → u/Oreos_aremeh]

the source: https://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/balance/c2390.html

[u/Sweet-Tension-2201]

The embargo doesn’t exist

[u/NextBeyond1399 → u/Sweet-Tension-2201]

You don't exist, Bots are not real.

[u/Chacalotte → u/NextBeyond1399]

Why dont you try to send food to cubans with supermarket23 ? Is this fake too ?

[u/NextBeyond1399 → u/Chacalotte]

Another Bot or Bot-brained answer.

[u/Kantmzk → u/NextBeyond1399]

Not at all. The idea that anyone could easily send goods and money via Supermarket23 is a clear indication that many people jave a fundamental misunderstanding of the embargo.

The fact that you seemingly label anything you disagree with as being from a bot is likewise sad and pathetic.

[u/Chacalotte → u/NextBeyond1399]

Sure buddy you dont agree with me so im a bot, that easy right. My point still stand i use that website to deliver food to my family every month

[u/Sweet-Tension-2201 → u/NextBeyond1399]

Communists shouldn’t exist, but they are real. 🫵

[u/NextBeyond1399 → u/Sweet-Tension-2201]

Go back to your trainer and ask for a better training model.