Otter wants trade restrictions against Cuba lifted

Gov. Butch Otter has joined eight other governors, seven of them Democrats, in urging Congress to lift trade restrictions against Cuba, the Times-News reports. In a letter to congressional leaders, the nine governors argued that that American food and agriculture producers are losing market opportunities under the current restrictions, and that expanded trade and relations could help boost democratic ideals in Cuba where “an outdated strategy of isolation and sanctions” has failed.

“Ending the embargo will create jobs here at home, especially in rural America, and will create new opportunities for U.S. agriculture,” the governors wrote. “Expanding trade with Cuba will further strengthen our nation’s agriculture sector by opening a market of 11 million people just 90 miles from our shores, and continue to maintain the tremendous momentum of U.S. agricultural exports, which reached a record $152 billion in 2014.”

Otter led a trade mission to Cuba in 2007; you can read Times-News reporter Nathan Brown’s full report here .