Chamber president Thomas Donohue said the chamber was dedicated to including the communist country's small self-employed sector.
There was no immediate reaction from Cuban officials, who had hoped to sign the agreement on Thursday. A noontime signing ceremony had been included on a schedule of the American chamber's activities provided to foreign media.
``It would have been easy to sign a document,'' Donohue said. But he said the American chamber would instead look for ways to make contact with Cuba's small independent sector, which has no formal representation. The Cuban chamber represents just Cuban government-run firms and foreign firms with Cuban government partnerships.
Donohue said he did not expect the self-employed sector to form any kind of representative group soon, though.
``I suspect that it will be more of a marathon than a sprint,'' he said. But they must somehow be included before the American chamber will sign the memorandum of understanding, he said.
The self-employed sector did not exist until 1994, when Cuba's communist government approved the creation of certain small enterprises, such as family restaurants, and the licensing of tradesmen, such as mechanics, plumbers and beauticians.
Donohue held a six-hour meeting with President Fidel Castro Thursday, suggesting Cuba had assigned high importance to the visit.
Donohue said the chamber was opposed U.S. trade sanctions imposed at the height of the Cold War in 1962 -- a statement widely reported in Cuba's state-controlled press.
But Donohue also disagreed with many aspects of Cuba's political, economic and human rights policies, which the Cuban press did not report.
``It is a tragedy that during one of the most exciting and dynamic periods of economic expansion and technological innovation, the Cuban people have been left out,'' Donohue said in a Wednesday speech at the University of Havana. ``It is the lack of private enterprise more than any other factor that has played the greatest role in holding Cuba back.''
© Copyright 1999 The Associated Press