White House national security adviser John Bolton is expected to unveil the policy as part of new actions he will announce against Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua. | Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images trade U.S. to announce tough policy on businesses in Cuba

The Trump administration will announce on Wednesday a big shift in policy toward Cuba by allowing U.S. individuals to file legal claims against foreign companies that conduct business in Cuba, a senior administration official told POLITICO.

The move represents a new hard-line stance against the island nation, which has been accused of providing assistance to the embattled regime of Venezuela’s Maduro government.


A law on the books has long been delayed by previous administrations through waivers. Enforcing it could exacerbate trade tensions with allies like Canada and the European Union, which have had companies doing business in Cuba for years.

White House national security adviser John Bolton is expected to unveil the policy as part of new actions he will announce against Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua during a speech in Miami on Wednesday.

The European Union has already warned the U.S. it would challenge the action in a WTO dispute and said the move would trigger an unending chain of countersuits against U.S. companies operating in Europe.

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“We believe that the issue of outstanding US claims should not be conflated with the cause of furthering democracy and human rights in Cuba, or by our share desire urgently to find a peaceful and democratic solution to the crisis in Venezuela,” European Commission foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini and European Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmström wrote in an April 10 letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

The EU officials said that EU law would allow any European company targeted by a U.S. claim to counter-sue in EU court and noted that the majority of the 50 largest U.S. claimants have assets that could be targeted in the EU.

The Trump administration plans to invoke a provision of the 1996 Helms-Burton Act that allows U.S. persons to pursue lawsuits against businesses "trafficking" in property nationalized during the Communist revolution. The so-called Title III provision of the law has been suspended repeatedly by successive administrations every six months.

The Trump administration announced earlier this year that it would study its policy toward Cuba, triggering a 45-day period in which it would study enforcing the law. The administration decided to extend the review period until May 1, which is the date the waiver will expire.

The review had caused concern in Canada as well and officials in Ottawa had been reaching out to the Trump administration in the beginning of the year to clarify the possibility of ending the waiver.

Bolton’s announcement coincides with the 58th anniversary of the failed Bay of Pigs invasion in Cuba. He’s scheduled to make his remarks at a Miami-area luncheon hosted by a group of Cuban-American Bay of Pigs survivors known as Brigade 2506, who are major backers of President Donald Trump and who campaigned with him in 2016.

Marc Caputo contributed to this report.