WASHINGTON: A small group of Republican lawmakers will join President Barack Obama’s historic trip to Cuba on Sunday, underlining growing divisions in the party over the future of the United States’ trade embargo against the island nation.

At least five Republicans, all known for favoring normal trade relations with Cuba, will make the trip, congressional sources and lawmakers told Reuters.

Republican congressional leaders have made opposition to Obama’s easing of the Cuban trade embargo a hallmark of their foreign policy. But an increasing number of party members, drawn by the economic benefits of scrapping the cold war-era embargo, are lining up to back the White House.

“This is the right policy. He’s done the right thing,” said Republican Senator Jeff Flake, an outspoken proponent of closer ties with Cuba who is going to Havana.

Besides Flake, Republicans making the trip include House of Representatives members Mark Sanford, Tom Emmer and Reid Ribble, as well as Senator Mark Heller, congressional sources and lawmakers said. All of the representatives confirmed their participation, except for Heller, whose office declined requests for comment. But other lawmakers confirmed his travel.

Republicans backing Obama’s policy cut against the grain of the party’s establishment thinking that seeks to avoid giving Obama any kind of policy win, either domestically or internationally. Normalizing relations with Cuba would be a significant foreign policy legacy for Obama.