In his first three years in office, Donald Trump has added almost as many people and entities to a government sanctions list as George W. Bush did in two terms
IN DECEMBER 2017 the Democratic Republic of Congo was in ferment. Joseph Kabila, then the president, seemed to be weighing whether or not to stand in an election, even though he should have left office fully a year before, having served his two full constitutional terms. In Kinshasa, the capital, Mr Kabila’s allies remarked casually that perhaps the president would stand again.
America is not alone in imposing targeted sanctions: the European Union and the United Nations have programmes too. But America’s is of special importance because of the country’s position at the heart of the world’s financial system. When individuals suffer sanctions from the Treasury, their assets in America are frozen. But the effect goes further than that. Firms which operate in America, or make payments in dollars, cannot easily deal with individuals on the list.
What has driven this surge in sanctions? According to Marshall Billingslea, an assistant secretary in the Treasury department, the growth reflects Donald Trump’s innovative “financial statecraft”. Certainly, they seem an ideal tool for Mr Trump, who wants to put foreigners under lots of pressure but is reluctant to send troops or bombers to do the job.
Yet in a strategic sense, it is really not so clear that sanctions are achieving much. Mr Trump’s government says that for sanctions to be lifted, Venezuela’s president must step down, while Iran must transform its foreign policy. Such a full capitulation seems unlikely. Nor is it obvious that individuals are responding. Beyond increasing his lobbying bill, the sanctions on Mr Gertler did not evidently change his behaviour.
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