Maintaining America's Coercive Economic Strength: Five Trends to Watch in U.S. Sanctions

U.S. foreign policy officials have embraced economic sanctions as a tool of choice for American foreign policy. Decisionmakers have deployed sanctions against strategic adversaries and national security threats ranging from Russia to non-state actors such as terrorist groups, drug cartels, and busin...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Policy File 2019
Main Authors: Berman, Howard, Dobriansky, Paula J, Eckert, Sue E, Elliot, Kimberly Ann, Goldwyn, David L, Harrell, Peter, Kassinger, Theodore, Lopez, George, Nephew, Richard, Rademaker, Stephen, Reynolds, Frederick, Rosenberg, Elizabeth, Singh, Daleep, Smith, Julianne, Szubin, Adam, Zarate, Juan, Ziemba, Rachel
Format: Report
Language:English
Subjects:
Center for a New American Security
Economic policy
Foreign policy
Online Access:Request full text
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Summary:U.S. foreign policy officials have embraced economic sanctions as a tool of choice for American foreign policy. Decisionmakers have deployed sanctions against strategic adversaries and national security threats ranging from Russia to non-state actors such as terrorist groups, drug cartels, and businesspeople who engage in corrupt activities. The appeal to both policy leaders and key constituent groups of the potent economic impacts of sanctions in several recent high-profile cases, particularly those of Iran, Russia, North Korea, and Venezuela, combined with broad bipartisan support for aggressive use of U.S. sanctions, suggests that the United States will favor this policy tool and be an active practitioner in the years ahead. This brief describes five of the most prominent and influential trends that could affect U.S. sanctions and other coercive economic measures in the future. The five trends are: (1) a shift toward more aggressive use of U.S. unilateral sanctions; (2) the growing role of Congress in enacting sanctions and managing their implementation; (3) an increased potential for unintended consequences as a result of growing complexity in sanctions; (4) accelerating efforts of foreign governments to insulate trade and payment channels from U.S. sanctions; and (5) new technological developments that may have the potential to both enhance and weaken the impact of U.S. sanctions in the years ahead. This brief represents solely the views of the authors, who have contributed to this report in their personal capacities. It does not necessarily reflect the views of other members of the task force or of any institutions with which the authors are affiliated.