Washington:Â Americans travelling to Cuba will be allowed to take home more of the communist-ruled island's coveted cigars and rum under new measures announced by the USÂ government to further ease trade, travel and financial restrictions that have been in place for decades.
Cuba welcomed the steps announced on Friday, part of President Barack Obama's effort to make his historic opening to Cuba "irreversible" by the time he leaves office in January, but said they did not go far enough.
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US lifts limits on Cuban rum, cigars
The Obama administration has officially lifted limits on the amount of the famed products US travellers can bring back home for personal use.
The latest in a series of new rules since the former Cold War foes began normalising relations in 2014 will allow Cubans to buy certain USÂ consumer goods online, open the door for Cuban pharmaceutical companies to do business in the United States and let Cubans and Americans do joint medical research.
For American travellers, the biggest change is the removal of limits on the amount of rum and cigars they can pack in their luggage, strictly for personal use.
"You can now celebrate with Cuban rum and Cuban cigars," USÂ National Security Adviser Susan Rice quipped as she laid out the policy changes in a speech to a Washington think tank.
USÂ law still bans general tourism to Cuba, but the administration has used previous regulatory packages to make it easier for Americans to visit the island under 12 officially authorised categories.
The latest measures are part of an executive order on Cuba through which Obama seeks to sidestep the Republican-controlled Congress, which has resisted his call to lift Washington's economic embargo after more than 50 years.
Republican critics say Obama is making too many concessions to Cuba for too little in return, especially on human rights issues. "After two years of President Obama's Cuba policy, the Castro regime has made out like bandits," said USÂ Senator Marco Rubio, a Cuban-American lawmaker from Florida.
![A Cuban woman, in traditional colonial costume, with a famous Cuban cigar in Old Havana.](/web/20161016231916im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/s/3/1/w/j/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gs2ygl.png/1476523813333.jpg)
The steps allow Cuban pharmaceutical companies to apply for USÂ regulatory approval, let USÂ firms improve Cuban infrastructure for humanitarian purposes and authorise them to provide safety-related aircraft services in Cuba, where USÂ airlines are beginning regularly scheduled flights.
Also under the new rules, after docking in Cuba, some foreign ships carrying certain cargo will be permitted to travel directly to USÂ ports to load or unload freight. Until now, such vessels had been required to wait 180 days, a restriction that Cuban officials say hinders their import export trade.
![Cuban Havana Club rum displayed on the bar at the Rum Museum in Havana.](/web/20161016231916im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/s/3/1/v/r/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gs2ygl.png/1476523813333.jpg)
Josefina Vidal, the Cuban Foreign Ministry's chief of USÂ affairs, told a news conference in Havana the measures were "positive but of a very limited nature".
Mr Obama said the US and Cuba still had "very real differences" on democracy and human rights, but that engagement was the best way to deal with those concerns.
![A youth walks beside a cigar store of the Habaguanex company in Old Havana, Cuba.](/web/20161016231916im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/s/3/1/w/g/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gs2ygl.png/1476523813333.jpg)
"Today, I approved a Presidential Policy Directive that takes another major step forward in our efforts to normalise relations with Cuba," he said in a statement.
Less than a month before the November 8 presidential election, Mr Obama said his goal was to "make our opening to Cuba irreversible".
The moves follow Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump's statements earlier in the week that, if elected, he would roll back Mr Obama's progressive approach to Cuba.
The people of Cuba have struggled too long. Will reverse Obama's Executive Orders and concessions towards Cuba until freedoms are restored.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 12, 2016
Reuters