President Obama announced on Thursday that he would travel to Cuba in March and meet with Cuban President Raúl Castro. The two men first met face-to-face during a summit in Panama last year, but President Obama has never visited Cuba. In fact, President Obama will be the first sitting American president to visit Cuba in
North America
Havana Club Trademark Row Moves to Capitol Hill
By John Cornell Fuller on
As U.S. sanctions on Cuba continue to thaw, some long standing disputes have been reignited. Perhaps chief among them is the decades-old battle over the trademark for “Havana Club” rum.
The original distillery that produced Havana Club rum was expropriated by the Castro regime in the 1960s. After the original distiller’s trademark registration had…
Cuba Sanctions Continue to Loosen
By John Cornell Fuller on
Effective today, January 27, 2016, the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) and the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) have further reduced sanctions affecting U.S. relations with Cuba. The amendments to the Cuban Assets Control Regulations (CACR) and Export Administration Regulations (EAR) represent significant steps…
U.S. Lifts Ban on Crude Oil Exports
By Michelle Rosenberg on
Posted in Export Compliance, North America
As of December 18, 2015, U.S. companies will no longer be required to obtain a license to export crude oil. President Obama signed into law the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2016 (H.R. 2029) that included Section 101 of Division O. The new law ends the 40-year ban on crude oil exports from the U.S.
Effective…
Investor-State Dispute Settlement Criticized from All Sides
By John Cornell Fuller on
Posted in North America, Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)
Ostensibly, Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) provisions in international trade agreements create a necessary judicial mechanism which empowers international investors to bring actions against host states who act arbitrarily, to the detriment of the international investment. ISDS has, however, long been criticized as a non-transparent, privately run judicial system through which wealthy investment entities can extract…