The United States found a way to have defective products sent to Cuba that negatively affected Cubans (Winkler, 88). Sanctions were imposed on Cuba's main export, sugar, which negatively affected the Cuban economy (Swift). Cuba depended on the sugar crop to bring in money, through trade and exports, from other countries. The United States did not allow Cuba to send it sugar, so Cuba lost a huge portion of the money it normally received from America. The Cold War damaged the economic lives of Cubans because they were unable to profit from sales and trade. Sanctions harm the Cuban people by decreasing their access to social services