US tightens financial and travel restrictions on Cuba
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Key Points(5)
- The United States has imposed new financial and travel restrictions on Cuba, barring US banks from maintaining certain accounts for Cuban private entrepreneurs and reversing measures introduced by the Biden administration to expand the island’s access to the US financial system.
- The new measures also eliminate authorisation for certain international payments involving Cuba to pass through US banks and restrict some categories of educational and professional travel to the island.
- At the time, the Treasury said the authorisation was intended to support Cuba’s independent private sector by expanding access to financial services and facilitating authorised payments and remittances.
- Existing funds must be blocked and reported to OFAC unless another authorisation applies.
- The immediate number of businesses affected could be limited.
The United States has imposed new financial and travel restrictions on Cuba, reversing several measures introduced by the Biden administration that had expanded access to the US financial system for the island’s private sector.
The changes to the Cuban Assets Control Regulations took effect Wednesday after the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) published the amendments a day earlier.
The new rules bar US financial institutions from opening or maintaining certain accounts for Cuban private entrepreneurs and require existing funds held under the previous authorisation to be blocked and reported to OFAC unless another authorisation applies.
The measures also end authorisation for certain Cuba-related international payments to pass through US banks and restrict some forms of educational and professional travel to the island.
OFAC said the amendments implement parts of President Donald Trump’s Cuba policy and regulations stemming from a May 1 executive order targeting individuals and entities Washington says are responsible for repression in Cuba or pose threats to US national security and foreign policy.
The changes reverse financial measures adopted by the Biden administration in May 2024, when the Treasury Department authorised qualifying Cuban private entrepreneurs to remotely operate US bank accounts, including while physically present in Cuba.
The Biden administration said the measure was intended to support Cuba’s independent private sector by improving access to financial services and facilitating authorised payments and remittances.
However, the impact of the reversal could initially be limited.
Oniel Díaz Castellanos, founder of Cuban business consulting firm Auge, said relatively few Cuban entrepreneurs had been able to use the authorisation because many US banks remained reluctant to work with Cuban businesses over concerns about complying with US sanctions.
The latest rules also eliminate authorisation for so-called U-turn transactions, which allow certain payments that originate and end outside the United States to pass through US financial institutions.
Under the amended regulations, US banks are no longer authorised to process qualifying Cuba-related U-turn transactions and may instead reject them, according to OFAC.
The policy has shifted between US administrations. The first Trump administration ended authorisation for U-turn transactions in September 2019, while the Biden administration restored it in May 2024.
Travel restrictions tightened
The United States has also tightened restrictions on travel to Cuba.
The new rules eliminate the general authorisation for group people-to-people educational travel and narrow other categories of educational travel. Certain academic activities involving accredited US institutions remain authorised under specified conditions.
OFAC also removed the general authorisation covering attendance at or organisation of certain professional meetings and conferences in Cuba.
The changes come after a series of Cuba-related sanctions imposed by the Trump administration since May.
In June, the Treasury Department sanctioned Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel and other officials and entities. It later designated state-owned oil and gas company Unión Cuba-Petróleo, known as CUPET.
Additional sanctions followed in August against individuals and entities that the Treasury said were involved in Cuban arms imports and foreign military cooperation.
On Sept. 3, OFAC sanctioned Banco Exterior de Cuba and several companies linked to Cuba’s petroleum, mining and resource sectors.
Unlike those earlier actions, which largely targeted specific individuals, companies and government entities, the latest measures change broader US rules governing financial transactions and travel involving Cuba.
The new restrictions came a day after Secretary of State Marco Rubio intensified the administration’s criticism of Havana.
“The truth is Cuba has already fallen,” Rubio said during an interview earlier this week, describing Cuba as “a failed state in every sense of the word.”
