Washington, Sep 15 (DPA) US President Barack Obama Monday extended for another year the trade embargo against Cuba that has been in place for nearly five decades.

Obama, in a note to the State Department and Treasury, said the embargo remained 'in the national interest of the US.' The annual extension is considered routine and has been taken by all of his predecessors since the 1970s.

Obama has relaxed some travel and financial restrictions against Cuba since coming to office in January. But the administration has not signalled an intention to end the trade embargo, which was first adopted against Fidel Castro's communist regime in 1962.

The United Nations General Assembly is expected to condemn the embargo during its annual summit of leaders next week - a practice that has also become routine in the past few years.