Economic sanctions are economic penalties applied by one country (or group of countries) on another for a variety of reasons. Economic sanctions can include tariffs, trade barriers, import duties, import or export quotas, and other monetarily damaging penalties.
Economic sanctions are frequently retaliatory in nature. For example, in 2002 the United Statesplaced import tariffs on steel in an effort to protect its industry from more efficient foreign producers, such as China and Russia. The WTO ruled that these tariffs were illegal. The European Union threatened retaliatory tariffs on a range of US goods, forcing the US government to remove the steel tariffs in early 2004. Economic sanctions frequently result in trade wars. The World Trade Organisation is the world governing body for trade disputes.
Economic sanctions are not always imposed because of economic circumstances. For example, on May 13th1998, the United States and Japan imposed economic sanctions on India, following its second round of nuclear tests.
The United Nations imposed stringent economic sanctions upon Iraq after the first gulf war, and these were mantained partly as an attempt to make the Iraqi government co-operate with the U.N. weapons inspectors' monitoring of Iraq's weapons and weapons programs. These sanctions were unusually severe in that very little in the way of trade goods were allowed into or out of Iraq during the sanction period (further information about these sanctions and their effects can be found at www.casi.org.uk . The sanctions were not lifted until May 2003, after its dictator Saddam Hussein was overthrown.
Economicsanctions are economic penalties applied by one country (or group of countries) on another for a variety of reasons.
Economicsanctions include, but are not limited to, tariffs, trade barriers, import duties, and import or export quotas.
The United Nations imposed stringent economicsanctions upon Iraq after the first Gulf War, and these were mantained partly as an attempt to make the Iraqi government co-operate with the UN weapons inspectors' monitoring of Iraq's weapons and weapons programs.
Economicsanctions may be employed to deter military aggression or to force an aggressor to withdraw its armed forces from a disputed territory.
Sanctions against countries that seek to acquire weapons in violation of international regimes controlling the proliferation of nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons and missile technology are far more likely to be effective if applied multilaterally and targeted against the offending country's leaders and armed forces.
Economicsanctions can be an important strategic weapon in the foreign policy arsenal; but they are only one step below a blockade or other military action, and their application should be given the same sober consideration accorded the commitment of U.S. troops to battle.
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