TOPEKA — The two Republican U.S. senators from Kansas joined three Democrats as sponsors of legislation repealing federal laws restricting trade with Cuba while retaining provisions aimed at human rights and property claims against the Cuban government.
U.S. Sens. Jerry Moran and Roger Marshall said the time had come to relax limitations on direct shipping between U.S. and Cuban ports as well as other features of a trade embargo denying U.S. producers access to consumers in Cuba.
The U.S. International Trade Commission found that if restrictions on trade with Cuba were lifted the annual export of wheat, rice, corn and soybeans could increase to about $800 million annually. Cuba relies on agricultural imports to feed the 11 million people who live there.
