March 05, 2019

Europe and the U.S. are at odds over Iran. Cuba may be next.

Source: The Washington Post

Journalist: Emily Tamkin

Since President Trump’s May announcement that the United States will pull out of the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers, Europe has been stuck in the middle of the diplomatic dispute between Washington and Tehran, with European firms facing U.S. sanctions if they maintain business links with Iran.

Now, a Trump administration policy shift over a 1996 U.S. law on Cuba threatens to put European business interests at the heart of another geopolitical dispute.

A section of the Cuban Liberty and Democratic Solidarity (Libertad) Act allows Cuban Americans and other U.S. citizens to sue entities that use property confiscated by the Cuban government after the 1959 Cuban revolution.

Every president since the law’s passage has suspended that section — Title III — in large part because it could have international repercussions. Continuing to suspend Title III helped “minimize diplomatic friction with Europe in particular,” said Peter Harrell, adjunct senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security.

Read the full article and more in The Washington Post.

Author

  • Peter Harrell

    Former Adjunct Senior Fellow, Energy, Economics and Security Program

    Peter Harrell is a former adjunct senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security. He is a leading expert on U.S. economic statecraft, including sanctions, export cont...