Rutgers University-Newark Professor Discusses Possible New U.S.-Cuba Economic Policies

Rutgers University-Newark professor Dr. Carlos Seiglie issued a statement regarding the new U.S.-Cuba economic situation today, Dec. 17.

Seiglie is an economist with an expertise in Cuban and Latin American economic and political relations, according to a news release from the University. Seiglie, who also has a corporate consulting background, is an expert in a number of topics, including Cuban economic reform, defense economics, the growth of market-oriented economies in Russia and Eastern Europe, and Latin American economic practices and development, the news release said.

Seiglie believes that the relationship between the United States and Cuba is improving for several reasons, including President Barack Obama’s tendency to favor Cuba. “President Obama has always favored them (Cuba),” Seiglie said in the release. “But political circumstances prohibited him from implementing them, whether it was because of his second-term election or midterm elections in Congress where Democratic candidates could be vulnerable to a policy change.”

The professor believes that now is the perfect time to propose changes because of the Republican majority in Congress, many of whom support an improved relationship with Cuba because of agricultural interest in their home districts, and because of the President’s lame duck status. Seiglie believes President Obama will have support of Congress.

The Cuban economy is going to be facing severe economic hardship in the future, according to Seiglie. Decreasing oil production in Venezuela and plummeting oil prices will greatly reduce the amount of financial support Venezuela can provide Cuba. “As a result, Cuba was very receptive to any rapprochement from the U.S.,” Seiglie said.

Seiglie believes there may be issues with providing support to Cuba, which has been controlled by a Communist government since 1959. “The challenge to this process is that Cuba will need to have credit extended to it in order to import U.S. goods,” Seiglie said in the news release. “...(And) this raises an issue whether U.S. taxpayers should be subsidizing the Castro regime.”

Seiglie is a professor of economics and the chair of the Department of Economics at Rutgers University-Newark. He also serves on the faculty of the Division of Global Affairs at the University, where he served as program director until July 2011, according to the news release. Seiglie received his Bachelor of Arts from Rutgers University and his Ph.D. in economics from the University of Chicago, according to his Rutgers University profile page.