International Trade Law News

Published by Jacobson Burton Kelley PLLC

Jacob Weisberg, editor of the online magazine Slate has written a thought-provoking article entitled "Thanks for the Sanctions" which contends that the U.S. of economic sanctions actually helps dictators. After briefly examining the recent history of the use of sanctions, including those imposed on Cuba, Weisberg writes that:

America's sanctions policy is largely consistent, and in a certain sense, admirable. By applying economic restraints, we label the most oppressive and dangerous governments in the world pariahs. We wash our hands of evil, declining to help despots finance their depredations, even at a cost to ourselves of some economic growth. We wincingly accept the collateral damage that falls on civilian populations in the nations we target. But as the above list of countries suggests, sanctions have one serious drawback. They don't work. Though there are some debatable exceptions, sanctions rarely play a significant role in dislodging or constraining the behavior of despicable regimes.