The United States halted exports to Communist Cuba in 1960.

At the end of World War II, a new war began—the Cold War. Although the major countries of the west, including the United States, Britain, France and others, shared an alliance with the Soviet Union during World War II, that alliance was temporary. It was forged only long enough to defeat Germany, which had posed a more immediate threat to both sides. Once that threat was gone, a new rivalry began between the capitalist countries of what was known as the "free world" and the communist countries of the Soviet Union and its satellites. A major facet of the Cold War was each side's attempt to forge alliances with and exert influence over smaller countries throughout the world. Cuba was one of those countries, and throughout the 1950s an ideological and political battle between communist and anti-communist forces raged. The communists won out and in 1960, following Cuba’s seizure and nationalizing of U.S. property and industries in the country, the Eisenhower administration imposed a partial unilateral embargo on the island nation. Shortly thereafter, President Kennedy made the embargo total, and that embargo is still in force today.

Xpeditions
In Products Across Borders (6–8), students identify foreign products available in the United States and learn about U.S. companies that sell products abroad. The students discuss globalization and illustrate two maps to show where products come from and where they're sold.

EconEdLink
U.S. Farmers and the Cuban Embargo (9–12) explores trade barriers in general and why some U.S. farmers want one specific trade barrier, the Cuban embargo, completely eliminated.

An embargo is an extreme trade barrier, but there are numerous barriers that are more common. In Don't Fence Me Out! (Barriers to Trade) (6–8), students examine their own clothing as a starting point from which to explore the effects of free trade among nations. Then, students identify and describe commonly used trade barriers and explain why trade barriers are imposed.

In Exchange Rates and Exchange: How Money Affects Trade (9–12), students calculate prices of goods produced in other countries, given exchange rates. They predict the effect of changes in relative currency values on prices, demand for imports and exports, demand for currency and trade deficits/surpluses. Included in this lesson is an interactive activity that has students calculate the exchange rate from one currency to another.

In Coming and Going: Imports and Exports Throughout the World (6–8), students study various imports and exports to and from different regions in the world. They then compare the imports and exports to determine the importance of each.

In “The Missiles of October”: The Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962 (9–12), students examine the development of the Cuban Missile Crisis. They consider the Kennedy administration's response and the situation's ultimate resolution.