User:Abloom18/sandbox

Finalized Wikipedia Article Choice

I am going to be working on the existing article, "United States embargo against Cuba." This specific article is important to cover because the U.S. embargo against Cuba still exists today and is one of the longest embargoes between two countries to ever exist (1958-Present).

I plan on contributing to the sub-section of the article labeled, "Impacts of the embargo." The sub-section of the article briefly touches upon some specific impacts the embargo has had on various nations during certain times, but it does not go into anymore depth. Mainly, I would like to discuss the larger and more general economic impacts the embargo has had on both countries. In addition, I would like to cover the impacts on U.S. public opinion as well as other nation's opinions concerning the embargo.

Preliminary Sources

• Caraway, Rose. “Post-Embargo Cuba: Economic Implications and the Future of Socialism.” The University of Texas at Austin, 2004, 30.

• COHA. “U.S. Embargo against Cuba under Growing Siege.” Accessed February 21, 2017. http://www.coha.org/cuba-embargo-under-growing-siege/.

• Pepper, Margot. “The Costs of the Embargo | Dollars & Sense.” Economic news and analysis. Dollars & Sense, 2017. http://www.dollarsandsense.org/archives/2009/0309pepper.html.

• U.S. Department of State. “Cuba Sanctions.” Archive. U.S. Department of State, 2017. https://www.state.gov/e/eb/tfs/spi/cuba/.

• U.S. International Trade Commission. The Economic Impact of U.S. Sanctions With Respect to Cuba. 332–413. Washington, DC: U.S. International Trade Commission, 2001. https://www.usitc.gov/publications/332/pub3398.pdf.

Draft of Wikipedia Article "Economic Impacts of the Embargo"

The Economic Impacts of the U.S. embargo on Cuba are the monetary long-term and short-term outcomes that the embargo has had on both countries in relation to trade, industry, and the creation of wealth. The U.S. sanctions on Cuba and their economic impacts can be traced since the beginning of the embargo's implementation up until present time.

According to the United States Chamber of Commerce, the embargo is currently costing the United States economy $1.2 billion per year. The Cuba Policy Foundation (CPF) estimates the current cost of the embargo to be valued at $4.84 billion per year for the United States while costing Cuba $685 million per year. As of today, Cuba is estimated to have lost over $28.6 billion in trade according to Cuba's Institute of Economic Research. The U.S. International Trade Commission estimated that U.S. exporters lose $1.2 billion annually because of the inability to access Cuban markets.

Between 1954 and 1958, trade between Cuba and the United States was at a significantly high level. Sixty-five percent of Cuba's total exports were going to the United States while imports from the U.S. totaled to seventy-four percent of Cuba's international purchases. After the formal implementation of the embargo and the passage of Proclamation 3355, there was a ninety-five percent decrease in Cuba's sugar quota, which canceled roughly 700,000 tons of the 3,119,655 tons previously allotted to the United States. A year later Cuba's sugar quota was reduced to zero when President Eisenhower issued Proclamation 3383. This substantially effected Cuba's total exports as Cuba was one of the world's leading sugar exporters at the time.

By 1989, with the continuation of the United States' embargo on Cuba and the collapse of the Soviet bloc, Cuba witnessed its most devastating economic crises. Cuba's GDP plummeted 34% and trade with the nations apart of the Council of Mutual Economic Assistance (CMEA) declined by 56%. Between 1989 and 1992 the termination of traditional trade partnerships with the Soviet bloc caused the total value of Cuba's exports to fall by 61% and imports to drop by approximately 72%.

According to a report released in 2001 by the U.S. International Trade Commission in response to a request made by the U.S. House of Representatives, the total value of U.S. exports of selected agricultural products, intermediate goods, and manufactured goods to Cuba in the absence of U.S. sanctions was estimated to be $658 and $146 million for U.S. imports from Cuba between 1996 and 1998.

Recently, the United States Commerce's Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) has become more lenient with some of the sanctions imposed upon Cuba by introducing new streamlined procedures to expedite processing of license applications for exporting eligible agricultural commodities to Cuba. As a result, annual U.S. exports to Cuba have risen from $6 million to about $350 million between 2000 and 2006. Over this period U.S. exports to Cuba have totaled to more than $1.5 billion. As of 2006 agricultural products have compromised 98% of total U.S. exports to Cuba.