A legal history of U.S. policy toward Cuba

The Cuba Blockade
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1917 · FEDERAL LAW

Trading with the Enemy Act

· In force

Wartime statute granting the President authority to regulate commercial transactions with enemy nations and to investigate, regulate, or prohibit transactions under a declared national emergency. Section 5(b) of the Act became the legal authority later invoked to impose economic controls against Cuba.

Citation
P.L. 65-91, 40 Stat. 411
Authority
U.S. Congress; signed by President Woodrow Wilson

The Cuba embargo rests in part on Section 5(b) authority under the Trading with the Enemy Act, which is exercised with respect to Cuba and maintained by annual continuation notices published in the Federal Register.

Topics

  • Trade
  • Finance

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