Essay Sample on US Economic Sanctions

Economic Sanctions are one of the most punitive or coercive measures a nation takes against another to enforce compliance with international norms or laws. Economic sanctions typically include a ban on trade. When the United States issues a sanction against a person or entity, U.S. individuals and companies are generally barred from conducting transactions with the designee. In some cases, sanctions can further prohibit Americans from doing business with third parties linked with the target. Both the U.S. president and Congress have the power to issue sanctions. The International Emergency Economic Power Act of 1977 allows a president to do so with relative ease. Because world trade is conducted almost exclusively in U.S. dollars and flows through U.S.-based financial institutions, Washington is uniquely positioned to use sanctions and impose “enormous economic pain” by restricting access to global markets. It’s one of the bluntest tools in the U.S. foreign policy tool kit- and happens to be a favorite of policymakers, even though it rarely produces political results. The sanctions regime in Afghanistan is just one example of a mindlessly cruel sanctions regime that wreaks havoc on the civilian population without accountability. For decades, Iranians have been subjected to some of the most crushing sanctions on earth. Obstacles are erected against even the most anodyne business ventures. As a result, young people in the country cannot envision a fruitful life in their country. The sanctions against Iran were intensified under the Trump administration, but have continued under President Joe Biden as part of a desperate effort to force a total surrender over the Iranian nuclear program. Even cold war era sanctions on countries such as Cuba remain intact to this very day. Decreed by U.S. president John F Kennedy for reducing the threat posed by the island nations, the sanction is still in place six decades later. The Cuban authority blames it for causing damage to the country’s economy for as much as 150 billion.

Infliction of U.S. sanctions on Afghanistan may rank among the deadliest incidents of violence against civilians related to the sanctions. The Afghan government which was built over two decades of American occupation was created to be wholly and solely dependent on foreign aid. With the abrupt withdrawal of the assistance and imposition of sanctions, millions of Afghans, including women and children, are now at the risk of starvation and death. It seems unlikely that sanctions will do what 20 years of war could not: build a stable government that keeps the Taliban out of power. 

Another current example is the punitive approach of targeting ordinary Russians through economic warfare is likely harmful and ineffective. Instead, tailored sanctions against oligarchs and Russian officials involved in human rights abuses during the current war are warranted. Still, even in the harshest conditions, such economic measures will not be enough to stop a regime that has already put its political credibility at stake in conquering Ukraine. Responding to Putin’s military aggression by denying ordinary Russians access to their life savings is a cruel non sequitur that does little to help Ukrainians. Such sanctions can also help solidify the authoritarian regime by forcing the middle class to focus on survival rather than political change.