Trump is putting pressure on Cuba because Cuba has been supplying the United States with sugar, and to dry up the Cuban sugar supply would deprive the United States of one of its chief sources of sugar. The United States would feel the deprivation all the more because, in addition to being a sugar consumer, it is also a sugar producer. The island republic has been exporting to the mainland between two and three million tons of sugar annually, and the loss of this trade would be a serious matter to American agriculture. Moreover, Cuba has been sending the United States tobacco, and to close the Cuban tobacco market would be to impair an important branch of American industry. Finally, Cuba has been supplying the American mainland with fruit, and to dry up the Cuban fruit trade would be to deprive the mainland of a cheap and welcome luxury. These are the reasons why Trump is putting pressure on Cuba. The end in view is to compel the island to accept a measure of economic control, which would enable the American Government to stabilise Cuban sugar at a price profitable to both producers and consumers, and keep the Cuban tobacco and fruit markets open to American enterprise.
Original dispatch: Trump is putting pressure on Cuba - why and to what end?