The Obama administration has loosened restrictions on travel and trade with Cuba just days before Obama is set to become the first sitting U.S. president to visit the country in 88 years. The new measures allow Americans to travel to Cuba if they plan educational activities, including interacting with Cuban people or visiting museums. They also allow Cubans to have U.S. bank accounts and earn salaries from U.S. companies, and permit the use of U.S. dollars in transactions with Cuba. White House spokesperson Josh Earnest said the shift could advance economic reforms in Cuba.

Josh Earnest: “It also could apply more pressure to the Cuban government to implement additional reforms to the Cuban economy. All of that would be a good thing, and all of that would be in service of the basic policy goals that we’ve laid out from the beginning. I would just observe that those were also the policy goals under—that were prioritized by the U.S. government for 50 years under a Cuba embargo and attempts to isolate the Cuban nation.”