Title 22Foreign Relations and IntercourseRelease 119-73

§6003 International cooperation

Title 22 › Chapter CHAPTER 69— - CUBAN DEMOCRACY › § 6003

Last updated Apr 6, 2026|Official source

Summary

The President should ask countries that trade with Cuba to cut back on trade and credit with Cuba to help carry out this law. The President can also punish any country that gives help to the Cuban government. Those punishments can bar that country from getting U.S. foreign aid under the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 and from arms sales or related help under the Arms Export Control Act. The country also cannot get debt forgiveness from U.S. programs. “Assistance to Cuba” means help to Cuba’s government such as grants, cheap loans, guarantees, insurance, export subsidies, special tariff treatment, or debt-for-equity deals that give ownership in Cuban assets. It does not include donated food to charities or people in Cuba, or medicine and medical supplies allowed under section 6004(c). The sanctions stop when the President makes the finding required under section 6007(a) and tells Congress.

Full Legal Text

Title 22, §6003

Foreign Relations and Intercourse — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)The President should encourage the governments of countries that conduct trade with Cuba to restrict their trade and credit relations with Cuba in a manner consistent with the purposes of this chapter.
(b)(1)The President may apply the following sanctions to any country that provides assistance to Cuba:
(A)The government of such country shall not be eligible for assistance under the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 [22 U.S.C. 2151 et seq.] or assistance or sales under the Arms Export Control Act [22 U.S.C. 2751 et seq.].
(B)Such country shall not be eligible, under any program, for forgiveness or reduction of debt owed to the United States Government.
(2)For purposes of paragraph (1), the term “assistance to Cuba”—
(A)means assistance to or for the benefit of the Government of Cuba that is provided by grant, concessional sale, guaranty, or insurance, or by any other means on terms more favorable than that generally available in the applicable market, whether in the form of a loan, lease, credit, or otherwise, and such term includes subsidies for exports to Cuba and favorable tariff treatment of articles that are the growth, product, or manufacture of Cuba;
(B)includes an exchange, reduction, or forgiveness of Cuban debt owed to a foreign country in return for a grant of an equity interest in a property, investment, or operation of the Government of Cuba (including the government of any political subdivision of Cuba, and any agency or instrumentality of the Government of Cuba) or of a Cuban national; and
(C)does not include—
(i)donations of food to nongovernmental organizations or individuals in Cuba, or
(ii)exports of medicines or medical supplies, instruments, or equipment that would be permitted under section 6004(c) of this title.
(3)This section, and any sanctions imposed pursuant to this section, shall cease to apply at such time as the President makes and reports to the Congress a determination under section 6007(a) of this title.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Repeal of Section Pub. L. 104–114, title II, § 204(d)(3), Mar. 12, 1996, 110 Stat. 810, provided that on date on which President submits determination under section 6063(c)(3) of this title that democratically elected government in Cuba is in power, this section is repealed.

Editorial Notes

References in Text

The Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, referred to in subsec. (b)(1)(A), is Pub. L. 87–195, Sept. 4, 1961, 75 Stat. 424, which is classified principally to chapter 32 (§ 2151 et seq.) of this title. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see

Short Title

note set out under section 2151 of this title and Tables. The Arms Export Control Act, referred to in subsec. (b)(1)(A), is Pub. L. 90–629, Oct. 22, 1968, 82 Stat. 1320, which is classified principally to chapter 39 (§ 2751 et seq.) of this title. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see

Short Title

note set out under section 2751 of this title and Tables.

Amendments

1996—Subsec. (b)(2). Pub. L. 104–114, § 102(f), added subpar. (B), redesignated former subpar. (B) as (C), and inserted concluding provisions “As used in this paragraph, the term ‘agency or instrumentality of the Government of Cuba’ means an agency or instrumentality of a foreign state as defined in section 1603(b) of title 28, with each reference in such section to ‘a foreign state’ deemed to be a reference to ‘Cuba’.”

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

22 U.S.C. § 6003

Title 22Foreign Relations and Intercourse

Last Updated

Apr 6, 2026

Release point: 119-73