"Effective immediately, I am cancelling the previous administration's completely one-sided deal with Cuba", Trump said.
President Donald Trump shows a signed executive order on Cuba policy, Friday, June 16, 2017, in Miami.
Mr Trump aides say Mr Obama's efforts amounted to "appeasement " and have done nothing to advance political freedoms in Cuba, while benefiting the Cuban government financially. USA airlines and cruise ships will still be allowed to serve the island 90 miles south of Florida.
MIAMI (AP) - The Cuban government is rejecting what it calls President Donald Trump's hostile rhetoric.
However, Havana also emphasized its "willingness to continue respectful dialogue and cooperation on issues of mutual interest".
His critics, however, have questioned why his administration is now singling out Cuba for human rights abuses but downplaying the issue in other parts of the world, including Saudi Arabia, a close USA ally Mr Trump visited last month where political parties and protests are banned.
He clamped down on some commerce and travel, but left intact many new avenues his predecessor Barack Obama had opened. Diplomatic relations will remain in tact and commercial air and sea links will be exempted from the new restrictions.
"That's the opposite of what he wanted to achieve", he added, arguing that Trump's move is not a step back to the Cold War-era embargo that Obama started to dismantle, but a recognition that Raul Castro's one-party regime has a long way to go to meet its promises of reform.
Cuba's 1,470-word statement Friday night labeled Trump a hypocrite for calling on Cuba to improve human rights, saying the USA government "is threatening more limits on health care that would leave 23 million people without insurance. and marginalizes immigrants and refugees, particular those from Islamic countries".
US Senate votes near unanimously for Russia, Iran sanctions
In an interview, he dismissed the proposed sanctions and said they reflect an internal political struggle in the United States. The US Senate on Thursday overwhelmingly passed tough sanctions on Russian Federation over alleged election meddling.
In a statement read out on the evening news, the Communist government said Trump was resorting to "coercive methods of the past" that hurt the Cuban people and prevented economic development but would not weaken the revolution.
"The self-directed, individual travel permitted by the Obama administration will be prohibited", according to the release.
Craig Spence, secretary general of the International Council of Aircraft Owner and Pilot Associations, explained that the restrictions will not go into effect until the new regulations are published, a number of which will hinder GA travel to Cuba.
Parts of the pact are likely to remain in place, including the reopened U.S. embassy in Cuba's capital, Havana, and the restoration of relations between United States and Cuba.
The move is created to target the repressive elements of the Cuban regime over human rights concerns and not the Cuban people, said officials, who briefed reporters ahead of the announcement on the condition they not be named.
"Honestly, I think is this all about politics", Aviña said. Cuba has not purchased any rice or wheat from the U.S.in many years, instead buying from other countries around the world.
The new policy will ban most USA business transactions with the Armed Forces Business Enterprises Group (GAESA), a sprawling conglomerate involved in all sectors of the economy, but make some exceptions, including for air and sea travel, the officials said. As a result, the changes - though far-reaching - appear to be less sweeping than many U.S.pro-engagement advocates had feared.
But, facing pressure from USA business and some of his fellow Republicans to avoid turning back the clock completely in relations with communist-ruled Cuba, he also will leave intact many of Obama's steps toward normalization. -Cuban diplomatic, social and commercial ties, with the USA opening an embassy in Cuba, increasing flights to Cuba, and some US businesses expanding into the island nation for the first time in five decades. Less than a year later, the U.S. Embassy in Havana re-opened, and Obama paid a historic visit to Havana in 2016.
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