Cuba's New Emerging Market Strategy: Has the United States Made Itself Irrelevant?
Critically, can a south-south emerging market strategy offer a new vision for the Cuban economy and pull it out of its low-investment, low-growth trap? And what does Cuba's south-south strategy mean for US policies toward Cuba?
Overview
Over the last decade Cuba has diversified its international economic relations, building its trade and investment ties with China, Brazil, Russia, and Venezuela while also maintaining relations with Canada, Mexico, and Europe.
From the slashing of something like a million jobs from the state payroll to announced plans to allow for the sale and purchase of real estate, Cuba has struggled to enact reforms that would improve productivity and adapt the island’s economy to the major opportunities as well as challenges posed by globalization.
In the United States, meanwhile, the political divisions over how to respond to changes within Cuba remain as deep as ever. The Obama administration has taken small steps to loosen travel restrictions and enhance remittances; but even these modest changes have evoked a furious reaction in Congress.
What are the diplomatic and economic motivations behind each of these new economic partnerships? Critically, can a south-south emerging market strategy offer a new vision for the Cuban economy and pull it out of its low-investment, low-growth trap? And what does Cuba's south-south strategy mean for US policies toward Cuba?
Speaker
![Richard Feinberg](/sites/default/files/styles/square/public/media/images/person/richard_feinberg.jpg)
Richard E. Feinberg
Professor Emeritus, University of California, San Diego; Former Senior Director for Inter-American Affairs at the National Security Council
Hosted By
Latin America Program
The Wilson Center’s prestigious Latin America Program provides non-partisan expertise to a broad community of decision makers in the United States and Latin America on critical policy issues facing the Hemisphere. The Program provides insightful and actionable research for policymakers, private sector leaders, journalists, and public intellectuals in the United States and Latin America. To bridge the gap between scholarship and policy action, it fosters new inquiry, sponsors high-level public and private meetings among multiple stakeholders, and explores policy options to improve outcomes for citizens throughout the Americas. Drawing on the Wilson Center’s strength as the nation’s key non-partisan policy forum, the Program serves as a trusted source of analysis and a vital point of contact between the worlds of scholarship and action. Read more
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