4th May, 2017 by Annie Hayes

The Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board (PLCB) is seeking permission from the federal government to become the first US state to acquire and sell Cuban rum.

Pennsylvania – the sixth most populous state in the country – has submitted the initial paperwork to begin the application process, and is now working to provide additional documentation and materials in a bid to lift the 1962 trade embargo.

Under the Obama administration, ties between the US and Cuba were put on a path to “normalisation”, with diplomatic relations restored and some travel restrictions eased.

New regulations were introduced to allow the office in charge of enforcing the 55-year-old embargo – which prohibits almost all imports from and exports to Cuba, including rum – to grant licenses to allow limited exchanges of goods and services.

“The PLCB continues to look into legal ways to pursue business with Cuba, in the interest of bringing Cuban rum to Pennsylvania consumers,” said Elizabeth Brassell, director of communications, PLCB.

“The federal government has established a process by which those who want to do business with embargoed countries can seek permission to do so, so we’re beginning to explore that process to seek permission to acquire and sell Cuban rum.

“Ultimately, it will be up to the federal government to determine whether or not they’ll grant us permission to do business with Cuba.”

The application may encounter further hurdles under the current Trump administration. Following the death of Cuban revolutionary and politician Fidel Castro, now-president Donald Trump threatened to reinstate sanctions on Cuba that had been lifted by his predecessor, Barak Obama.

Pernod Ricard is currently engaged in a legal battle with Bermuda-based Bacardi over the rights for it to launch Havana Club in the US if the trade embargo is scrapped.

The French drinks group has received trademark approval to launch its rum in the US, but faces a challenge from Bacardi, which has sold its own Havana Club rum brand ­– made in Puerto Rico – in the US since the mid-1990s.