Miami sees gains, threats.(CUBA)

0 Comments | Caribbean Update, July, 2009

Miami's business will gain if the US lifts its trade embargo on Cuba, but the city could face "unfair" competition from state-subsidized Cuban cigar, citrus and rum exports, Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce said, reports Reuters (June 2, 2009). Chamber Chairman Bruce Jay Colan said the business sector of Miami needed to address, and be prepared for, this new reality.

"It's not all necessarily peaches and cream," added Colan, who is also a partner of law firm Holland & Knight. If increased bilateral trade came with little or no change in Cuba's centralized state-run system, potential threats to Miami's business could be posed by subsidized Cuban products "that compromise international labor standards, intellectual property rights, copyright laws and quality and...