President Joe Biden told Congress that he is removing Cuba from the state sponsors of terrorism list.

Biden said Jan. 14 that Cuba's government has not provided any support for international terrorism during the preceding six-month period. The Cuban government also provided assurances that it will not support future acts of international terrorism, Biden's certification letter said. The announcement was part of a deal to free political prisoners in Cuba.

Obama removed Cuba from the list in 2015, but Trump returned Cuba to the list in January 2021 shortly before he left office. 

"While these measures serve the interests of both the U.S. and Cuban people, they are not likely to have any major effect before the Trump administration supersedes them with its own Cuba policy," said William LeoGrande, an expert on U.S. foreign policy toward Latin America and professor of government at American University. "With Marco Rubio as Secretary of State, and other hardline Cuban Americans in key foreign policy positions, that policy will likely go in the opposite direction."

Sebastian A. Arcos, interim director of the Cuban Research Institute at Florida International University, said the "policy back-and-forth does not help in creating the incentives for the regime to move in the right direction," toward reform and liberalization, short of a full transition to democracy.

The Cuban government punishes dissent. 

Biden made some progress to restore travel and remittances for Cuba, but he did not go as far as Obama's administration did. Biden's promise to restore Cuba engagement remains rated Compromise.

RELATED: Did Joe Biden keep these 99 promises? We reviewed his presidential record