Caterpillar: A New U.S. - Cuba Future Begins Today

PEORIA, Ill. and WASHINGTON, July 20, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- With the re-establishment of diplomatic relations, today marks a new future for the United States and Cuba. Caterpillar CAT has been calling for a new policy toward Cuba since 1998, and today marks a historic step toward normalization as the countries focus on their future.

"For almost 20 years, Caterpillar has strongly advocated for engagement rather than isolation in Cuba. We've also called on the U.S. government to lift the trade embargo because, in our view, the current isolationist policy hasn't worked," said Caterpillar Chairman and CEO Doug Oberhelman.  

"Dialogue is a great start.  We encourage the President and Congress to work together on the next step – finally ending the 54-year embargo that has made the 90 miles separating our nations an insurmountable barrier. It is now time to unleash the full power of engagement by fully normalizing relations. Fully integrating Cuba into the global economy will improve the everyday lives of the Cuban people."

Caterpillar leaders visited Cuba in April of 2015 to better understand the potential market and to meet with business and government leaders.

Previously, Caterpillar has donated generator sets to Cuban hospitals as part of its humanitarian outreach. Currently, Caterpillar and the Caterpillar Foundation are exploring a variety of ways to improve conditions for the Cuban people.   

About Caterpillar
For 90 years, Caterpillar Inc. has been making sustainable progress possible and driving positive change on every continent. Customers turn to Caterpillar to help them develop infrastructure, energy and natural resource assets. With 2014 sales and revenues of $55.184 billion, Caterpillar is the world's leading manufacturer of construction and mining equipment, diesel and natural gas engines, industrial gas turbines and diesel-electric locomotives. The company principally operates through its three product segments - Construction Industries, Resource Industries and Energy & Transportation - and also provides financing and related services through its Financial Products segment. For more information, visit caterpillar.com. To connect with us on social media, visit caterpillar.com/social-media.

Forward-looking Statements
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Caterpillar's actual results may differ materially from those described or implied in our forward-looking statements based on a number of factors, including, but not limited to: (i) global and regional economic conditions and economic conditions in the industries we serve; (ii) government monetary or fiscal policies and infrastructure spending; (iii) commodity price changes, component price increases, fluctuations in demand for our products or significant shortages of component products; (iv) disruptions or volatility in global financial markets limiting our sources of liquidity or the liquidity of our customers, dealers and suppliers; (v) political and economic risks, commercial instability and events beyond our control in the countries in which we operate; (vi) failure to maintain our credit ratings and potential resulting increases to our cost of borrowing and adverse effects on our cost of funds, liquidity, competitive position and access to capital markets; (vii) our Financial Products segment's risks associated with the financial services industry; (viii) changes in interest rates or market liquidity conditions; (ix) an increase in delinquencies, repossessions or net losses of Cat Financial's customers; (x) new regulations or changes in financial services regulations; (xi) a failure to realize, or a delay in realizing, all of the anticipated benefits of our acquisitions, joint ventures or divestitures; (xii) international trade policies and their impact on demand for our products and our competitive position; (xiii) our ability to develop, produce and market quality products that meet our customers' needs; (xiv) the impact of the highly competitive environment in which we operate on our sales and pricing; (xv) failure to realize all of the anticipated benefits from initiatives to increase our productivity, efficiency and cash flow and to reduce costs; (xvi) additional restructuring costs or a failure to realize anticipated savings or benefits from past or future cost reduction actions; (xvii) inventory management decisions and sourcing practices of our dealers and our OEM customers; (xviii) compliance with environmental laws and regulations; (xix) alleged or actual violations of trade or anti-corruption laws and regulations; (xx) additional tax expense or exposure; (xxi) currency fluctuations; (xxii) our or Cat Financial's compliance with financial covenants; (xxiii) increased pension plan funding obligations; (xxiv) union disputes or other employee relations issues; (xxv) significant legal proceedings, claims, lawsuits or government investigations; (xxvi) changes in accounting standards; (xxvii) failure or breach of IT security; (xxviii) adverse effects of unexpected events including natural disasters; and (xxix) other factors described in more detail under "Item 1A. Risk Factors" in our Form 10-K filed with the SEC on February 17, 2015, for the year ended December 31, 2014.

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SOURCE Caterpillar Inc.