United States sanctions

After the failure of the Embargo Act of 1807, the federal government of the United States took little interest in imposing embargoes and economic sanctions against foreign countries until the 20th century. United States trade policy was entirely a matter of economic policy. After World War I, interest revived. President Woodrow Wilson promoted such sanctions as a method for the League of Nations to enforce peace. However, he failed to bring the United States into the League and the US did not join the 1935 League sanctions against Italy.
However, in 1940, the United States participated in the ABCD line against Japan, and the Helium Act of 1925 forbade the export of that strategic commodity. Interest in trade as a tool of foreign policy expanded during the Cold War era, and many economic sanctions were applied. The Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act of 1986, was only in effect for five years. Later, sanctions were additionally aimed against countries which the U.S. government listed as "State Sponsors of Terrorism".

Numerous US unilateral sanctions against various countries around the world have been criticized by different commentators. Since 1998 the United States has imposed economic sanctions on more than 20 countries.
These sanctions, according to Daniel T. Griswold, failed to change the behavior of sanctioned countries; but they have barred American companies from economic opportunities, and harmed the poorest people in the countries under sanctions. Secondary sanctions, according to Rawi Abdelal, often separate the United States and Europe because they reflect US interference in the affairs and interests of the European Union (EU). Since Donald Trump became the president of the United States, Abdelal believes, sanctions have been seen not only as an expression of Washington's preferences and whims, but also as a tool for US economic warfare that has angered historical allies such as the EU.

Sanctions imposed by the United States government include:
* ban on arms-related exports
* controls over dual-use technology exports
* restrictions on economic assistance
* financial restrictions:
** requiring the United States to oppose loans by the World Bank and other international financial institutions
** diplomatic immunity waived, to allow families of terrorist victims to file for civil damages in U.S. courts
** tax credits for companies and individuals denied, for income earned in listed countries
** duty-free goods exemption suspended for imports from those countries
** authority to prohibit U.S. citizens from engaging in financial transactions with the government on the list, except by license from the U.S. government
** prohibition of U.S. Defense Department contracts above $100,000 with companies controlled by countries on the list.

Implementing agencies

* Bureau of Industry and Security
* Directorate of Defense Trade Controls
* Office of Foreign Assets Control
* U.S. Customs and Border Protection
* United States Department of Commerce ( Export Administration Regulations, EAR)
* United States Department of Defense
* United States Department of Energy (nuclear technology)
* United States Department of Homeland Security (border crossings)
* United States Department of Justice (including ATF and FBI)
* United States Department of State ( International Traffic in Arms Regulations, ITAR)
* United States Department of the Treasury

Authorizing laws

Several laws delegate embargo power to the President:
* Trading with the Enemy Act of 1917
* Foreign Assistance Act of 1961
* International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977
* Export Administration Act of 1979

Several laws specifically prohibit trade with certain countries:
* Cuban Assets Control Regulations of 1963
* Cuban Democracy Act of 1992
* Helms–Burton Act of 1996 (Cuba)
* Iran and Libya Sanctions Act of 1996
* Trade Sanction Reform and Export Enhancement Act of 2000 (Cuba)
* Iran Freedom and Support Act of 2006
* Comprehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability, and Divestment Act of 2010

Targeted parties

As of February 2022, following the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, the United States has sanctions against:

Individuals

Russia

Targeted Russian elites:
*Sergei Sergeevich Ivanov
* Sergei Borisovich Ivanov
*Andrey Patrushev
* Nikolai Platonovich Patrushev
*Ivan Igorevich Sechin
* Igor Ivanovich Sechin
* Alexander Aleksandrovich Vedyakhin
*Andrey Sergeyevich Puchkov
* Yuriy Alekseyevich Soloviev
*Galina Olegovna Ulyutina

Belarus

Leader of :
*Aliaksandr Yauhenavich Shatrou

Belarusian Defense Officials:
* Viktor Khrenin
*Aleksandr Grigorievich Volfovich
*Aliaksandr Mikalaevich Zaitsau

Countries

As of November 2022, the United States has sanctions against:

Persons

Some countries listed are members of the World Trade Organization, but WTO rules allow trade restrictions for non-economic purposes.

Combined, the Treasury Department, the Commerce Department and the State Department list embargoes against 20 countries or territories:

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* ( sanctioned areas)

Perceptions

Two-thirds of the 104 sanctions that were imposed worldwide from 1945 to 1990 were unilateral US actions. Since 1990, sanctions have been significantly increased and since 1998, the US has imposed economic sanctions on more than 20 countries. According to Joy Gordon, while it is wrong to think of the UN Security Council as an instrument of US hegemony, the US has led many of the Security Council's recent efforts to impose sanctions. Gordon also said the US has disproportionate influence because of its veto power, global economic power, and recent increased influence as Russia's willingness to exercise its veto has diminished due to its dependence on the West.

According to Daniel T. Griswold, sanctions have failed to change the political behavior of sanctioned countries but they have barred American companies from economic opportunities and harmed the poorest people in the sanctioned countries. According to Rawi Abdelal, secondary sanctions often separate the US and Europe because they reflect US interference in the affairs and interests of the EU. Abdelal said since Donald Trump's election as President of the US, sanctions have been seen as an expression of Washington's preferences and whims, and a tool for US economic warfare that has angered historical allies such as the EU.

Effectiveness

The increase in the use of economic leverage as a US foreign policy tool has prompted a debate about its usefulness and effectiveness. According to Rawi Abdelal, sanctions have become the dominant tool of statecraft of the US and other Western countries in the post-Cold War era. Abdelal stated; "sanctions are useful when diplomacy is not sufficient but force is too costly". British diplomat Jeremy Greenstock said sanctions are popular because "there is nothing else o dobetween words and military action if you want to bring pressure upon a government".

Hufbauer, Schott, and Elliot said policymakers often have high expectations of the effectiveness of sanctions, especially in the US. They also stated there is at most a weak correlation between economic deprivation and the political inclination to change. According to Daniel T. Griswold, the use of trade as a foreign policy weapon has harmed US interests without greatly enhancing national security. According to him, sanctions have failed to change the behavior of sanctioned countries but have barred American companies from economic opportunities and harmed the poorest people in the countries under sanctions. According to the president's Export Council, since 1993, the US has imposed more than 40 economic sanctions on 36 countries. The sanctions are estimated to have cost US exporters to a year in overseas sales, and have damaged their reputation as reliable suppliers. According to Griswold, trade sanctions have been a foreign policy failure; a study by the Peterson Institute for International Economics said sanctions have achieved their goals in fewer than 20% of cases. As an example, it is said the US Nuclear Proliferation Prevention Act of 1994 could not stop Pakistan and India from testing nuclear weapons.

In this context, South Africa is often mentioned as a successful example of sanctions; according to Griswold, sanctions were not the only reason for the collapse of apartheid; the collapse of the Soviet Union was also responsible. Griswold said sanctions against South Africa were different from most 21st-century American sanctions; South African sanctions were multilateral whereas most US sanctions since 1993 have been unilateral; and South Africa was responsive to a limited but still significant number of votes of five million white people, which made the state more vulnerable to external pressures.

According to the National Iranian American Council, sanctions or blockades have hurt civilian populations in targeted countries in what amounts to unjust collective punishment, economic sanctions during the Covid-19 pandemic worsened global public health and put at risk countless millions across the world, and sanctions against Cuba, Venezuela and other countries increased refugee flows from these regions and had a negative impact on public opinions of the United States in those countries.

Isolation of the United States

According to Abdelal, US sanctions on its own internal economy cost almost nothing but overuse of them can be costly in the long run. Abdelal said the biggest threat is the US's gradual isolation and the continuing decline of US influence in the context of an emerging multi-polar world with differing financial and economic powers. Abdelal also said the US and Europe largely agree on the "substance" of sanctions but disagree on their implementation. The main issue is secondary US sanctions—also known as extraterritorial sanctions—which prohibit any trading in US dollars and prevent trade with a country, individuals and organizations under the US sanctions regime. Primary sanctions restrict US companies, institutions, and citizens from doing business with the country or entities under sanctions. According to Abdelal, secondary sanctions often separate the US and Europe because they reflect US interference in the affairs and interests of the EU. The more secondary sanctions are applied, the more they are seen in the EU as a violation of national and EU sovereignty—as an unacceptable interference in the EU's independent decision making. The secondary sanctions imposed on Iran and Russia are central to these tensions, and have become the primary tool for signaling and implementing secession from US and European political goals.

Sanctions as wars against oppositions

Farrokh Habibzadeh, the editorial consultant for The Lancet, compared the strategy of sanctions to besieging in ancient times, where armies that could not conquer a city that was surrounded by defensive walls would besiege the city to prevent access by residents to necessary supplies. According to Hufbauer, Schott and Elliot (2008), regime change is the most-frequent foreign policy objective of economic sanctions, accounting for just over 39% of cases of their imposition.

Cuba

There have been 29 consecutive nearly unanimous UN resolution demanding the US end its embargo of Cuba. According to Noam Chomsky, the measures against Cuba have been condemned in almost all relevant international forums and have been outlawed by the Judiciary Commission of the Organization of American States, which usually complies. The EU has called on the World Trade Organization to condemn the sanctions. According to Chomsky, Bill Clinton's administration's response was; "Europe is challenging 'three decades of American Cuba policy that goes back to the Kennedy Administration', and is aimed entirely at forcing a change of government in Havana."

When the US imposed its the first comprehensive commercial embargo on Cuba in 1961, Cuba did most of its commerce with the US. Griswold said since then, the sanctions have not had any effect on Fidel Castro's government, which used sanctions to justify the failure of policies and to attract international compassion. Griswold said although the sanctions formerly had international backing, nowadays no other country supports them. Forty years after they were imposed, the sanctions have only damaged US firms and the Cuban people while not much change in Castro's government seemed likely. Pope John Paul II stated during his visit to Cuba, embargoes "are always deplorable because they harm the needy".

Iran

In May 2018, the US government announced its withdrawal from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) and launched a maximum pressure campaign against Iran, which resulted in public protests, and reproach from European political and business elites. Excessive use of US financial sanctions has worried companies and prompted many EU member states and institutions to limit the exposure of their economies to the US-based clearing system that creates extreme vulnerability for all countries other than the US. According to Abdelal, EU leaders, are increasingly recognizing EU security depends on political stability in the Middle East and argue US policies undermine this agenda by using destabilizing tactics in the region—particularly the US's strategy of maximum pressure on Iran. The refugee crisis caused deep divisions in the EU. An unstable Iran, most likely built by a US militant, runs counter to European interests. The Trump administration reintroduced sanctions against Iran with an executive order, going against the wishes of many politicians. The consequences of these divisions could threaten the long-term European trade and security; according to Abdelal, Europeans are not prepared to bear the consequences of US internal strife.

Syria

According to Noam Chomsky, Bill Clinton said Syria be removed from the list of State Sponsors of Terrorism (U.S. list) if it agreed to the US-Israeli peace terms. When Syria insisted on retaking the land Israel had occupied in 1967, it remained on the list of sponsors of terrorism despite the US's acknowledgment Syria had not been involved in supporting terrorism for many years and has been instrumental in providing intelligence about al-Qaeda and other radical Islamist groups to the US. Chomsky wrote:

Chomsky said Congress law, and news and commentary ignore the fact the 1982 United Nations Security Council Resolution 520 was explicitly against Israel rather than Syria, as well as the fact Israel has violated these and other Security Council resolutions on Lebanon for 22 years. There was no call for any sanctions against Israel or for a reduction in unconditional military and economic aid to Israel.

Iraq

The sanctions regime imposed by the US and UK pushed Iraq to a level of survival. UNICEF's "2003 Report on the State of the World's Children" stated Iraq's decline was the most severe in the last decade. According to Chomsky, sanctions against Iraq killed hundreds of thousands of people and Iraq had the weakest economy and the weakest military force in the region. Halliday, von Sponeck, and others had been saying for years the sanctions devastated the people while strengthening Saddam Hussein and his group, as well as increasing the Iraqi people's dependence on Hussein for their survival. Von Sponeck, who resigned in 2000, reported the US and UK "systematically tried to prevent im and Hallidayfrom briefing the Security Council ... because they didn't want to hear what we had to say" about the effects of the sanctions. Chomsky wrote; "after Hussein's atrocities against the Kurds, against Iran, against Iraqis—which we now denounce—the United States continued to support Saddam Hussein". The Iraqi Army invaded and occupied Kuwait, which was met with international condemnation and brought immediate sanctions against Iraq. UK prime minister Margaret Thatcher and US president George H. W. Bush deployed forces and formed the largest military alliance since World War II. Most of the coalition's military forces were from the US.

According to Chomsky, more than ten years of sanctions "killed more people than Saddam Hussein ever did". According to Chomsky, the argument the sanctions regime was Saddam's fault because of his refusal to comply fully with UN resolutions, his construction of palaces and monuments to himself funded by money diverted from smuggling and other illegal operations, according to the testimony of UN humanitarian coordinators and the World Food Program), means the US had to punish Saddam by crushing his victims and strengthening their torturer. He also said if a criminal hijacks a school bus, we should blow it up and murder the passengers but rescue and reward the hijacker, justifying the actions on grounds that it was his fault.

The sanctions of the following years, then, according to Chomsky, undercut the possibility of a popular uprising that would have left the country in the hands of Iraqis who might have been independent of Washington. The United States, Chomsky believes, sought to instigate the coup by groups it controlled, but a popular rebellion would not have left the US in charge. At the Azores Summit in March 2003, Bush reiterated his position that the United States would attack even if Saddam and his allies left the country.

The effects of sanctions on the population of Iraq have been disputed. The figure of 500,000 child deaths was widely cited for a long period but in 2017, research showed that figure was the result of survey data manipulated by the Saddam Hussein regime. Three surveys conducted since 2003 all found the child mortality rate between 1995 and 2000 was approximately 40 per 1000, meaning there was no major rise in child mortality in Iraq after sanctions were implemented.

In January 2020, US President Donald Trump said sanctions would be imposed against Iraq if US troops were forced to exit Iraq.

Economic engagement as an alternative to sanctions

Griswold said China as an example of how economic interaction can help a country slowly change for the better. Since 2000, China has become the fourth-largest US trading partner and the second-largest recipient of direct foreign investment after the US. China's domestic market reform and increasing openness have led to rapid growth, leading to higher living standards and greater independence for citizens. The share of government-controlled industry has fallen from almost 100% in 2000 to less than 50% today. Private ownership of homes and businesses is dramatically rising. Continued economic engagement has also helped admit China to organizations that promote religious and political freedom. More than a decade after the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre, the Chinese government began releasing political prisoners and allowing little internal criticism. As in Taiwan and South Korea, Chinese economic liberalization encouraged a stronger civil society independent of government control.

In the case of Iraq, Hans von Sponeck said a "constructive solution" to regime change in Iraq "would be to lift the economic sanctions that have impoverished society, decimated the Iraqi middle class and eliminated any possibility for the emergence of alternative leadership ... twelve years of sanctions have only strengthened the current regime". Sanctions forced people to depend on the ruling dictatorship for their survival and further reduced the likelihood of a constructive solution. Denis Halliday commented:

We have saved he regimeand missed opportunities for change ... if the Iraqis had their economy, had their lives back, and had their way of life restored, they would take care of the form of governance that they want, that they believe is suitable to their country.

Footnotes

See also

* State Sponsors of Terrorism (U.S. list) – placement on the list puts severe restrictions on trade with that nation
* Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List
* United States sanctions against China
* Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act
* Rogue state
* Economic sanctions
* 2002 United States steel tariff
* Permanent normal trade relations
* Arms Export Control Act
* United States and state terrorism
* Criticism of United States foreign policy

References

Citations

Sources

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Further reading

* Hufbauer, Gary C. ''Economic sanctions and American diplomacy'' (Council on Foreign Relations, 1998
online

* Hufbauer, Gary C., Jeffrey J. Schott, and Kimberley Ann Elliott. '' Economic Sanctions Reconsidered: History and Current Policy'' (Washington DC: Peterson Institute for International Economics, 1990)
* Mulder, Nicholas. ''The Economic Weapon: The Rise of Sanctions as a Tool of Modern War'' (2022
excerpt
also se
online review

External links

Sanctions Programs and Country Information
(United States Department of the Treasury)

Commerce Control List
(Bureau of Industry and Security)

Countries Sanctioned By The U.S. - And Why
(Investopedia, 2010-04-08)

United States to Lift Sudan Sanctions
(NY Times, 2017-01-13)

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United States trade policy
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United States foreign policy
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