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The U.S. Trade Embargo on Cuba Just Hit 55 Years

2 minute read

It’s been exactly 55 years since President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s State Department imposed the first trade embargo on Cuba on Oct. 19, 1960. The original embargo covered all U.S. exports to Cuba except for medicine and some foods. President John F. Kennedy expanded the embargo to cover U.S. imports from Cuba and made it permanent on Feb. 7, 1962.

Although relations between the two countries warmed this year, the embargo is still in place and an act of Congress is required to remove it.

The origins of the embargo go back even further, to when Fidel Castro came to power Jan. 1, 1959. He quickly lost American support as he publicized private land and companies, and imposed heavy taxes on imports from the U.S. In the first year of Castro’s regime, U.S. trade with Cuba decreased 20%.

Just before the U.S. imposed the embargo, Cuba made another jab at “the Yankee imperialists.” In a single night, Castro’s Cabinet nationalized 382 businesses, “including 105 sugar mills, 13 department stores, 18 distilleries, 61 textile factories, eight railways and all banks, save the Royal Bank of Canada and the Bank of Nova Scotia,” according to TIME. “The U.S. need not worry that a strategic embargo will damage private industry in Cuba,” the magazine noted. “It no longer exists.”

TIME further explained the embargo in a 1960 article:

Washington last week slapped Havana with the most severe trade embargo imposed on any nation except Red China. Under penalty of a $10,000 fine and ten years’ imprisonment, the U.S. barred from Cuba, which traditionally buys 70% of its foreign goods in the U.S., two-thirds of all American imports. Only medicines and nonsubsidized foods, such as canned goods, may still be shipped.

The U.S. Commerce Secretary was blasé about the embargo’s potential to drive Cuba further to the Soviet side, saying, “Too bad. After all, we’ve been the ones who’ve been pushed around lately.”

It’s one of the longest running embargoes in U.S. history. The embargo against North Korea, however, is even older.

Read more about the embargo on Cuba, here in the TIME Vault: The End of Patience

Read more: Why Did the U.S. and Cuba Sever Diplomatic Ties in the First Place?

A History of Cuba-U.S. Relations in 13 TIME Covers

Apr. 26, 1937, cover of TIME
Fulgencio Batista on the Apr. 26, 1937, cover of TIMETIME
The Jan. 26, 1959, cover of TIME
Fidel Castro on the Jan. 26, 1959, cover of TIMECover Credit: BORIS CHALIAPIN
Aug. 8, 1960, cover of TIME
Che Guevara on the Aug. 8, 1960, cover of TIMECover Credit: BERNARD SAFRAN
Apr. 28, 1961, cover of TIME
Jose Miro Cardona on the Apr. 28, 1961, cover of TIMETIME
Apr. 27, 1962, cover of TIME
Blas Roca on the Apr. 27, 1962, cover of TIMECover Credit: BERNARD SAFRAN
Nov. 2, 1962, cover of TIME
Adm. George Anderson on the Nov. 2, 1962, cover of TIMEBoris Chaliapin
The Oct. 8, 1965, cover of TIME
Fidel Castro on the Oct. 8, 1965, cover of TIMECover Credit: BERNARD SAFRAN
Jun. 13, 1969, cover of TIME
Fidel Castro (and others) on the Jun. 13, 1969, cover of TIMECover Credit: KARSH, HARRY REDL, BEN MARTIN.
The Sept. 17, 1979, cover of TIME
Fidel Castro and Cyrus Vance on the Sept. 17, 1979, cover of TIMECover Credit: RODDEY E. MIMS; HIRES-GAMMA/LIAISON.
The Dec. 6, 1993, cover of TIME
Fidel Castro on the Dec. 6, 1993, cover of TIMECover Credit: GIANFRANCO GORGONI
The Sept. 5, 1994, cover of TIME
The Sept. 5, 1994, cover of TIMECover Credit: PAUL DAVIS
Feb. 20, 1995, cover of TIME
Fidel Castro on the Feb. 20, 1995, cover of TIMECover Credit: DAVID BURNETT
Jan. 26, 1998, cover of TIME
Fidel Castro and the Pope on the Jan. 26, 1998, cover of TIMECover Credit: GERARD RANCINAN

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