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Current Event #1

Trade with Cuba

There has recently been a lot of talk on the news this month about trade routes once again being opened with Cuba. This would be huge to our economy, and it would have a pretty good impact on our supply and demand of certain goods and services Cuba could provide. They do think that sometime during 2015, Cuba and the United States could once again become friendly neighbors. One item that I know of in particular that a lot of Americans would like to have access to is a Cuban cigar. Many smokers really enjoy these cigars because of the way Cuba makes them. Currently they are illegal in the US because of trade restrictions with Cuba. If trade was reopened, this would have a huge impact on the tobacco industry. This would also affect the black market’s income in the US. People would no longer rely on the black market to get their fancy Cuban cigars if they were legal. This is just one example of a product Cuba would offer that would greatly affect our economy, but there are many more. Trade with Cuba again would drastically effect the prices and supply and demand of many items.

This relates directly to economics by the way it would affect the supply and demand of all the goods and services Cuba could provide. Another way relationships with Cuba would affect our economy is with travel. If the United States loosens its travel restrictions with Cuba a lot more people might decide Cuba would be a good place to take a vacation. This would put a lot of money into circulation in the United States and Cuba. Tourists and people on vacation bring a lot of money into the economy of the places they are visiting. In this particular case, there would assumedly be a lot of money being brought into the economy of Florida, because some of these people may travel through Florida on their way to Cuba for vacation. Or if people simply fly over Florida to get to Cuba, there would be more money getting brought into the US economy that way, through the airlines.

Overall, I think this is a great idea to reopen trade routes and travel with Cuba. I think it would do nothing but benefit our economy. I realize there is some tensions left over from the Cold War but I think that we should try to get past them in order to benefit both of our economies. It would be a mutual benefit for the United States and Cuba, in my opinion, to start being friendly neighbors to each other again.

Works Cited

http://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-eases-trade-travel-rules-for-cuba-1421332704