Trump to change US-Cuba policy

President Donald Trump yesterday was set to announce a clampdown on US business with Cuba and tighter rules on travel to the island, in a move to roll back his predecessor Barack Obama's historic outreach to Havana.

Trump headed to Miami's Little Havana, spiritual home of the Cuban-American exile community, to unveil the policy shift in an address at the Manuel Artime Theater -- named after an anti-communist veteran of the ill-fated Bay of Pigs invasion.

US officials told reporters that he will prohibit financial transactions with Cuba's military-backed tourism conglomerate GAESA, a body which might otherwise have hoped for a windfall from a new surge in American visitors.

Run by Castro's son-in-law Luis Rodriguez Lopez-Callejas, GAESA is involved in joint ventures with several foreign firms that have driven a tourism boom on the island, including the Marriott hotel chain.

Under a new National Security Presidential Memorandum, Trump is also expected to announce stricter application of the rules under which Americans can travel to Cuba.

American citizens will still be able to take commercial flights to Cuba, but only for 12 specific reasons -- ranging from journalism to educational activities -- which will be more tightly enforced.

Cuban-Americans will still be able to travel to Cuba and send remittances,. Trump's measures stop short of reversing Obama's opening, but they signal a tougher stance that could slow the number of Americans who have begun to head to Cuba for Havana city breaks or longer beach holidays.

Boosting travel was a key aim of Obama's painstaking effort to restore ties with the communist-run island, which included a landmark visit by the then-president in 2016.

Some 285,000 people visited the Caribbean country in 2016, up 74 percent over 2015, with Americans the third biggest group after Canadians and Cuban expats.