Stuck in the past

As part of his policy of reversing Obama’s foreign policy work, US President Donald Trump has reversed another part of Obama’s foreign relations legacy. Trump first used his Middle East trip to reverse the progress made in relations with Iran by the Obama administration. And then just two weeks back        – without any provocation – he announced a partial rollback of Obama’s rapprochement with Cuba. The new executive order tightens travel and trade rules between Cuba and the US. The logic behind this is an apparently worsening human rights situation in the former, but the grounds are flimsy at best. The response from Havana has been terse, stating that the US is in no position to lecture it about human rights. While        Trump’s new order will not turn the situation back to the pre-2015 blockade, it is the fact that the US president has taken on the issue at all that is surprising. There is barely any political leverage to be gained from targeting Cuba, which most Americans consider to be a non-issue. Even the Cuban Americans         Trump broke the news to in Miami have accepted the fact that the current Cuban regime is there to stay and there is no point to continue to cast it as an enemy.

Trump’s decision will not affect diplomatic relations between the two countries. More than leaving a direct impact on Cuba, the move reinforces the US’s image as an international bully – unfortunately highlighted by the image of its new president. Like Iran, America’s problems with Cuba go back decades. The world has changed since. But the US has elected a man in the White House who seems to be stuck in the past. Cuba had opened itself up after the US loosened restrictions. Isolation is not a strategy that offers a way forward in international relations. Moreover, the sheer contradiction of the US cosying up to autocratic regimes in other parts of the world shows the shallowness of the human rights excuse. If the continuing American friendship with dictatorships and kingdoms is a product of political pragmatism, there is no rational logic for a rollback on Cuba.          Trump is treading on a dangerous tightrope in international relations. The political hubris displayed by the US administration could bite back soon.