The United States will vote against a UN General Assembly draft resolution calling for the lifting of U.S. economic and trade embargo on Cuba, the U.S. envoy to the United Nations said on Wednesday.
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley made the threat ahead of the vote at the UN General Assembly.
She also said the General Assembly has no power to remove the embargo as it is a U.S. law. Dismissing the vote as "political theater," she said only the U.S. Congress can lift the decades-old embargo.
Last year, the United States broke a 24-year voting streak at the United Nations by abstaining from instead of voting against a resolution calling for an end to the trade embargo against Cuba. Haley explained that the about-face is because of the election of Donald Trump as the new president and herself as the new UN ambassador.
The vote was seen as another turning point in the U.S.-Cuba relations since the two countries announced in December 2014 that they would work to normalize ties. The two countries restored diplomatic ties in July 2015.
Earlier this year, the Trump administration announced new restrictions that effectively rolled back Obama administration's Cuban rapprochement.
