Can New Trade Agreements Between Cuba and America Bring More Opportunities for Black Farmers?

Los Angeles, CA - For most Americans when they think of international trade they automatically think of Fortune 500 companies, or huge conglomerates. But, open trade is now becoming the most important factor in the United States, particularly for farmers, ranchers and budding entrepreneurs. Blacks, for the most part, have been in the blind as far as the opportunities that abound in the world of export trade. They need to know that trade with foreign countries is vital to their financial future.

President Bush said that Open Trade is in our nation’s interest and that many people are able to find better jobs as a result of our active trade policy in the United States. If this is true, why are Blacks not taking advantage of the world of free trade? Some say that Black Farmers pay higher shipping fees than white farmers, there are credit issues, and acts of relentless red-lining of Black farmers by Congress.

“One major concern is the Black perception that International Trade is owned and operated by big companies. But the truth is, you can become an exporter right in your own living room with this new technology,” said Roosevelt Roby a member of the NAACP and Founder and CEO of the World Business Exchange Network www.wbe.net. His company is the largest independent Trade Association on the Internet that promotes U.S. Exports and provides research, training and business leads for beginning exporters and trade agents.

Most recently, NAACP President and CEO Kweisi Mfume and John Boyd President of the National Black Farmers Association met with Cuban President Fidel Castro to discuss trade agreements that will allow the Cuban government to purchase food products directly from Black farmers in America. Mfume hopes to assist Black farmers in their quest to sell goods to the emerging Cuban trade market.

"This is a goodwill, people-to-people mission that seeks to build bridges with the people of Cuba,” said Mfume.

If the deal follows through, many Black farmers will be benefit from trade with third world countries like Cuba, Africa, and most recently China. Just last year representatives from China International Trade Committee reached an agreement with Black American Exporters to do business with them in the future.