As per the Economic Structure Rankings, Cuba had the 152nd most export earnings, the 133rd most overall importing, and the 105th most dynamic industry in 2019. The poultry industry, Grains, Soy Beans, Corn, and Condensed Milk are Cuba’s major imports, with most of them coming from Russia, Canada, Italy, China, and Spain. Rolled Tobacco, Pure Sugar, Copper Mattes, Strong Alcohol, and Zn Ore are Cuba’s biggest exports, primarily to Cyprus, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, and China.
Cuba has been a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO) since 1995, and in 2000, it inked a business agreement with Caricom. These trade agreements are addressed in greater depth below:
CARICOM Cuba Trade and Economic Cooperation Agreement
The treaty permits advantageous merchandise exports between Cuba, Barbados, Guyana, Trinidad, Suriname, Jamaica, and Tobago. At the request of Cuba, both sides began discussions for increased access to new items into each other’s markets at a Jci Conference.
The Second Supplemental Agreement to the Trading and Industrial Partnership Treaty between the Caribbean Community and the Government of the Republic of Cuba was drafted following negotiations at future Jci Sessions between the two sides. CARICOM and Cuba signed the Second Supplementary Agreement to the Trading and Industrial Partnership Agreement in 2017 on the sidelines of the COTED’s Forty-Fifth Meeting.
World Trade Organization
Cuba was a founding member of the GATT and became a WTO member in 1995. It sought economic independence from the United States after the 1959 revolution and dealt mostly outside of GATT standards, in barter agreements with the Soviet Union and then with Venezuela.
Cuba attempted to establish clout among developing nations by challenging current trade regulations and agreements while also maintaining or exploring better rules-based international market access routes. Cuba has been unable to avoid relying on large trading allies. A narrow variety of exports since the fall of the Soviet Union and political instability in Venezuela resulted in significant drops in Cuban trade and financial disaster.
Cuba, on the other hand, has started diversifying its exports and expanding its commercial relations, and its economic objectives are now more closely aligned with WTO norms and negotiating goals. To reap the financial gains of WTO participation, Cuba will have to pursue domestic policies and improve its access to international markets.
WTO agreements
A long list of legislation and requirements can be found in the World Trade Organization treaty. Tariff reductions, copyright protection, safeguarding, fair markets, textile arrangements, and so on are all included.
Duty reduction in advanced nations was to be phased in over five years, according to the deal. As a result, their taxes on industrial goods have been reduced by 40%, from 6.3 percent to 3.8 percent. The amount of duty-free imported manufactured goods in advanced countries will increase by 44%.
In addition, there will be fewer items subject to high tariff levels. The percentage of imports into industrialized economies from all sources subject to taxes of over 15% will drop from 7% to 5%. Developing-country exports subject to tariffs of more than 15% in developed economies will fall from 9% to 5%.
Taxes on all farm commodities are also now restricted. Almost all import limitations that were not previously imposed in levies, such as quotas, have now been changed to tariffs. Agriculture markets have become significantly more predictable as a result of this.
Governments can help their rural industries under WTO farming policy, but ideally through programs that produce less economic distortion. It also permits some flexibility in terms of how obligations are carried out.
GATT
Since 1948, Cuba has been a member of the GATT accord. The GATT set regulations to eliminate or limit the costliest and inefficient characteristics of the prewar protectionist era, notably numerical trade restrictions like trade regulations and tariffs. The pact also established a system for resolving international commercial conflicts, as well as a foundation for multinational tariff drop discussions. In the postwar period, the GATT was seen as a significant success.
Trade without prejudice was one of the GATT’s major accomplishments. Every GATT signatory was to be treated equally with the others.
