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After the Spanish–American War, Spain and the United States signed the Treaty of Paris (1898), by which Spain ceded Puerto Rico, the Philippines, and Guam to the United States for the sum of US$20 million [71] and Cuba became a protectorate of the United States. Cuba gained formal independence from the U.S. on 20 May 1902, as the Republic of ...
After the opening of the island to world trade in 1818, trade agreements began to replace Spanish commercial connections. In 1820 Thomas Jefferson thought Cuba is "the most interesting addition which could ever be made to our system of States" and told Secretary of War John C. Calhoun that the United States "ought, at the first possible opportunity, to take Cuba."
The United States later pressured other nations and American companies with foreign subsidiaries to restrict trade with Cuba. The Helms–Burton Act of 1996 makes it very difficult for foreign companies doing business with Cuba to also do business in the United States. As early as September 1959, Valdim Kotchergin, a KGB agent, was seen in Cuba.
This action escalated the US embargo on Cuba, which responded by nationalizing all American owned property. Eventually all Cuban private property was nationalized. [18] Beginning in 1966, the Castro government nationalized all remaining privately owned businesses in Cuba, down to the level of street vendors. The process accelerated on March 14 ...
Cuba was also under a lot of influence from the United States to the point where the US controlled 80% of Cuba's trade. [40] In 1959 around 40% of Cuban sugar land, almost all the cattle ranches, 90% of mines and 80% of the utilities were owned by American firms. [41]
Cuba's foreign policy has been fluid throughout history depending on world events and other variables, including relations with the United States.Without massive Soviet subsidies and its primary trading partner, Cuba became increasingly isolated in the late 1980s and early 1990s after the fall of the USSR and the end of the Cold War, but Cuba opened up more with the rest of the world again ...
Cuba–European Union relations are the international relations between the Republic of Cuba and the common foreign policy and trade relations of the European Union (EU). Relations have been strained in recent years, due to Cuba's poor human rights record and the European Union's numerous accusations of Cuba's human rights abuses .
The European Union is Cuba's largest trading partner, and the United States is the fifth-largest exporter to Cuba. [140] In 2012, the embargo limited U.S. imports to Cuba at 6.6%. [ 140 ] The Cuban government is required pay cash for all food imports from the U.S., as credit is not allowed. [ 141 ]