Article content continued

About one million Canadians annually vacation in Cuba and Toronto-based resource company Sherritt International is long established there, while countries such as Britain, France and Spain have companies active in rum, cigars and tourism.

Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland said Canada is “deeply disappointed” and reviewing options with the EU.

“The EU and Canada consider the extraterritorial application of unilateral Cuba-related measures contrary to international law,” Freeland, her European Union counterpart Federica Mogherini and EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom said in a joint statement Wednesday.

“Our respective laws allow any U.S. claims to be followed by counter-claims in European and Canadian courts, so the U.S. decision to allow suits against foreign companies can only lead to an unnecessary spiral of legal actions.”

Freeland said the government regularly met with the U.S. officials since January, when the issue first surfaced, to raise concerns about “the possible negative consequences for Canadians — concerns that are long-standing and well known to our U.S. partners.”

During a recent trip to Washington, Freeland met with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to discuss the effect on Canadian companies if the U.S. were to resurrect Title III of the Helms-Burton Act.

Canada and its European allies have pushed the Trump administration to continue to suspend use of the dormant section of the law that allows Americans to sue foreign companies linked to Cuban properties confiscated after the 1959 revolution.