Russian Federation slams Trump's 'Cold War' policy on Cuba

But facing pressure from US businesses and even some fellow Republicans to avoid turning back the clock completely in relations with communist-ruled Cuba, the Republican president chose to leave intact many of his Democratic predecessor's steps toward normalization.

Trump tore into former President Barack Obama in front of an audience made up largely of Cuban exiles and their descendants in a theater named for a leader of the failed 1961 us -backed Bay of Pigs invasion. Empowering them and stoking higher popular expectations will, in turn, put more pressure on the regime.

In turn, airlines and USA hotel chains began investing resources in Cuba, while chicken, grain and other agricultural producers from the US exported tons of products to Cuba. But, in a shift from Obama's approach, Trump said trade and other penalties would stay in place until a long list of prerequisites was met.

"Today's announcement is a step in the right direction to reverse an ill-advised and misguided Cuba policy that has failed to deliver on its promises, left the Cuban people worse off, and allowed American fugitives, like wanted terrorist and cop-killer Joanne Chesimard, to escape justice", Menendez said.

Declaring Obama's pact with Castro a "completely one-sided deal", Trump said he was cancelling it.

Trump's speech in Miami to announce the rollback was "full of hostile rhetoric", Havana's statement said, adding that the announced policies will "revert" the progress achieved between the two countries in the past two years.

The lengthy statement went on to strike a conciliatory tone, saying Cuba wants to continue negotiations with the U.S. on a variety of subjects.

The embassies in Washington and Havana will remain open and fully operational.

Trump's speech vowed to protect Cubans and Cuban-Americans, especially those persecuted by the Castro regime.

But individual "people-to-people" trips by Americans to Cuba, allowed by Obama for the first time in decades, will again be prohibited.

And the United States government will police other trips to ensure travellers are pursuing a "full-time schedule of educational exchange activities".

Analysts estimate that the president's maneuver would bring economic, isolation and security problems for the United States instead of benefits since Cuba will not compromise and national affairs are not negotiated.

Saying Washington's recent "haughty" remarks against Cuba were reminiscent of the rhetoric during the Cold War, the Kremlin strongly criticized Trump's decision to rollback his predecessor Barack Obama's policies towards Cuba.

Airlines including American Airlines Group Inc., Delta Air Lines Inc., JetBlue Airways Corp., Southwest Airlines Co., and United Continental Holdings Inc., each began operating flights thanks to the eased travel restrictions.

"We do not want U.S. dollars to prop up a military monopoly that exploits and abuses the citizens of Cuba", Trump said.

"You went out and you voted, and here I am, like I promised".

In an interview, Rhodes said he took solace that Trump, who put new limits on commercial transactions and US citizens' travel to the island nation, had not ended diplomatic relations.

"This is a limitation on what we did, not a reversal of what we did", Rhodes said in an interview.

We asked Northeastern professor Jose Buscaglia, a Caribbean scholar who played a key role in establishing the university's partnerships in Cuba, to explain how Trump's changes might impact the on-again, off-again relationship between the two nations.

In 2016, Newsweekreported that a company run by Trump had - in the late 1990s - secretly conducted business in Fidel Castro's Cuba by funneling cash for the trip to the country into an American consulting firm, which helped Trump Hotels & Casino Resorts executives "make it appear legal by linking it after the fact to a charitable effort".

He has challenged Cuba to "come to the table" to strike a deal that serves both country's interests. The irony is that in the name of "freeing Cuba", whatever that may mean, the Trump administration has taken the wind out of the sails of people who are changing the country for the better.

Obama worked to fix relations between the U.S. and Cuba.