Cambodia, Laos Removed from U.S. Trade Blacklist

Jun. 13 - The United States removed the Southeast Asia nations of Laos and Cambodia from a trade blacklist, opening the door for U.S. loans to companies doing business in the two countries. U.S. President Barack Obama said that Laos and Cambodia had “ceased to be a Marxist-Leninist country,” a designation that prevented financial support by the U.S. Export-Import bank. The United States now forbids U.S.-backed loans in only six countries – Cuba, Iran, Myanmar, North Korea, Sudan and Syria. The countries of Laos and Cambodia were placed on the blacklist following the Vietnam War, when both nations became sideshows to the main struggle in neighboring Vietnam. The war and collapse of the U.S.-backed governments in Vientiane and Phnom Penh gave rise to a communist government in Laos and the brutal Khmer Rouge in Cambodia. While concerns over corruption and accountability for Khmer Rouge war crimes and the fate of U.S. servicemen still missing from the war have remained, China’s growing influence in the region prompted the United States established normal trade relations with Laos in 2004 and lifted all restrictions on aid to Cambodia in 2007. Obama’s decision to take Laos off the blacklist came under intense fire from supported of the Hmong, a hill tribe people who fought on the side of the United States during the war and claim continued persecution from the Laotian government today. Over 250,000 Hmong have resettled in the United States since the end of the war.