To see how carefully the White House must craft its rollback of sanctions targeting the Castro regime, consider this week's amendments to the 56-year-old Cuba embargo.
U.S. Treasury Department officials on Tuesday lifted banking and export restrictions against Cuba they say have stymied yearlong efforts to normalize economic and diplomatic ties with the island-nation.
The expected reemergence of Iran on global markets will likely pose the toughest challenge for sanctions compliance officers in the coming year, according to Alexandre Lamy, an attorney with Baker & McKenzie's International Trade Practice Group.
Thursday's partial easing of U.S. sanctions against Cuba will do much to bring money to the island nation, but even a full rollback of economic restrictions won't soon resolve the biggest barriers to entry for American banks: low profit margins and high regulatory risk.
The U.S. Treasury Department's sanctions enforcer issued regulations Thursday permitting American banks to transact directly with their Cuban counterparts for the first time in decades.
President Obama announced plans Wednesday to significantly ease commercial and economic sanctions targeting Cuba, dismantling key elements of the 54-year U.S. embargo against the Caribbean nation.
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