Max Baucus Quotes

Unilateral sanctions on Cuba have been oppressive and largely ineffective, and that's why the public largely supports lifting them.

The embargo doesn't affect the United States, not even minimally; all of Cuba's economy is smaller than that of Miami-Dade County, and the ones who suffer the most are Cubans. If you talk to them in the street, they're the ones most interested in the opening of a free market in their country.

We believe that unilateral sanctions violate international law, in fact. They violate free trade. They violate human growth and development, human development, and that when you actually sanction a bank of a country, the meaning of it is quite clear. You're sanctioning medicine for the people.

I think a policy of isolationism toward Cuba is misplaced and hasn't worked.

A very large majority of the U.S. population is in favor of establishing diplomatic relations with Cuba and has been for a long time with some fluctuations. And even part of the business world is in favor of it, too. But the government won't allow it.

Let's be honest: The trade embargo with Cuba hasn't secured our interests or helped the Cuban people. Because the way to promote positive change and better human rights in Cuba is through engagement, not isolation.

The U.S. trade embargo on Cuba is almost completely ineffective, as many other countries, including the European Union, do not honor it.

For more than fifty years, our policy towards Cuba was not making life better for Cubans. In many ways, it was making it worse.

Our Cuba policy was a major obstacle to getting things done in the hemisphere and a source of tension around the world.

The United States already has in place comprehensive trade sanctions against Sudan, imposed because of the regime's support for terrorism. While we maintain diplomatic relations, we do not staff our embassy there.

Even today, when the Obama administration has liberalized travel to Cuba - and failed to reverse that liberalization when Alan Gross was imprisoned - there are limits.

I think our Cuban policy is insane…. I guess it’s the politics of Florida. The Cold War is long since over. Our embargo just lets Castro blame his troubles on us.. Just lift the embargo and let people do as they wish.

[The Cuban embargo is:] … not just a policy tool [but] a moral statement.

I was only helping your country enforce the Embargo Act.

It’s about time we talked to Cuba instead of fighting a war that is 40 years old.

International economic and political sanctions on Iran, as crucial as they may be, are only an initial step, and must be dramatically increased.

In 1962, President Kennedy expanded an earlier trade embargo put in place by a predecessor, President Eisenhower, to a total economic blockade, which pushed the Cubans further in Moscow's direction.

When you say to Israelis, 'European boycott,' they think it means that this year they won't get Camembert cheese on time... That is not the case.

I want to go get trade agreements because if America walls itself up, if we address sort of an economic fortress America, we will lose.

For more than fifty years, the United States pursued a policy of isolating and pressuring Cuba. While the policy was rooted in the context of the Cold War, our efforts continued long after the rest of the world had changed.

While President Obama raised the hopes of Americans and Cubans alike with a forward-looking opening in diplomatic, commercial and people-to-people ties, President Trump is turning back the clock to a tragically failed Cold War mindset by reimposing restrictions on those activities.

The Obama administration benefited the Castro regime. The Trump administration plans to benefit the Cuban people by taking away power from the government and directly emboldening citizens.

I've never been against doing business with Cuba.

The economic sanctions against Russia are madness, directed against a neighboring and friendly market.

For some reason, we can't go to Cuba, businesses in American can't do business in Cuba. I think that that is stupid. So I hope very much and applaud the president for his efforts in that direction and hope that in the not-too-distant future, that if I have anything to say about it as president, we will work aggressively to develop normal relations in every respect with the people of Cuba.