June 2016

For companies engaged in the international trade of goods or services, the decision of the United Kingdom to exit from the European Union, creates uncertainty on many levels. Laying aside political effects, such as potential reconsideration of Scotland’s 2014 decision to remain in the U.K. (Scotland having overwhelmingly voted to stay in the U.K. during the Brexit referendum), the legal issues stemming from the Brexit decision are almost too numerous to mention.  But, for a U.S. company thinking through the implications of Brexit, resultant changes in treaty obligations, British law, and U.S. law are the major categories to monitor carefully.

Cuba’s Minister of Agriculture, Gustavo Rodriguez Rollero, made an official visit to the U.S. last week together with a delegation of officials from other Cuban ministries.  Minister Rollero’s visit was preceded by a February 2016 visit from Rodrigo Malmierca, Cuba’s Foreign Trade Minister.  These visits marked the first U.S. visits from senior Cuban government officials in over 50 years.  President Obama, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and Missouri Governor Jay Nixon have also made their own historic visits to Cuba within recent months.  Secretary Vilsack’s visit included a meeting in Havana to sign a Memorandum of Understanding  (the “MOU”) between the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Cuban Ministry of Agriculture enabling the two agencies to cooperate in fields such as phytosanitary standards, plant and animal sanitation, organic production methods, climatology and irrigation through collaborative efforts such as information exchange and scientific research.